Scars of Friendship
by Hikari ni Michita Sora
Summary: There's nothing left of what once was, nothing but the bitter taste of mako in Cloud's mouth and scars he doesn't remember getting on his wrists. S/C, Z/A, R/R, T/E Sequel to A Twisted Kind of Honour.
1. Synopsis

**Title: **_Scars of Friendship_  
**Rating: **PG-13 (Rating will increase)  
**Main ****Pairings**: Sephiroth/Cloud, Zack/Aerith, Elfé/Tifa, Rufus/Reno.**  
****Genre**: Action/Adventure, Romance, Angst  
**Warnings**: M/M scenes, M/F scenes, F/F scenes, language, eventual graphic sex scenes, graphic violence, terrorism and other canonical warnings. **NOTE that these warnings will no longer be given chapter by chapter!**  
**Chapter**: 0/??  
**Comments**: Welcome to _Scars of Friendship_. This chapter is a synopsis of the prequel to this fic, _A Twisted Kind of Honour_. This is for past readers to check back for details they may have missed without having to trawl through _A Twisted Kind Of Honour_, or, for those who had no desire to read the other fic for the themes contained within, to enjoy _this_ story, without some of the gore that began its prequel. Edits are still occuring in A Twisted Kind of Honour, but all additional scenes have already been added. First chapter will be up tomorrow.

**Synopsis**

Cloud Strife was captured on a mission to Gongaga by Wutaian terrorists. Over the next few weeks he was tortured and abused to the point of insanity. He was eventually rescued by General Sephiroth, after his position was discovered by the Ancient, Aerith Gainsborough. Cloud Strife is then assigned to the Midgar Asylum and removed from the military on the orders of President Shinra.

Six months later, now a civilian who works in an electrical store, Cloud Strife meets General Sephiroth again. The two form a bond over coffee and a common annoyance with Zack Fair. Months later, General Sephiroth begins to realise he is in love with the other. A quasi-date becomes a confession of feelings but Cloud, unable to accept them yet, forces the General to leave.

The next week, after thinking things through, Cloud accepts Sephiroth's feelings. They are caught together on tape and the information is passed on to Zack Fair, who is horrified that his old friend is together with the General.

Zack demands an explanation from Sephiroth, however he is interrupted by Cloud arriving. When Cloud arrives, Zack Fair is, instead, forced to defend his own actions in regards to abandoning his friends. Zack recounts his current struggles with the defection of his mentor, Angeal Hewley, and the slew of missions he has been assigned to pick up the slack left by the mass-desertion in SOLDIER. Friends once more, Zack and Cloud begin to bond again.

Cloud and Sephiroth's first official 'date', Cloud comes across AVALANCHE bombers. Witnessing their attack on the Shinra Plaza, and injured himself, Cloud asks Sephiroth to allow him to train as a Turk to fight AVALANCHE.

Over the next few months, Cloud trains to be a Turk for SOLDIER, however, his relationship with Sephiroth begins to suffer for it. His relationship with Zack continues to strengthen.

Cloud's first mission is to infiltrate AVALANCHE. He finds them in the slums and approaches their leader Elfé. She appears particularly taken with him and he passes initiation. Sephiroth begins to suspect Rufus' involvement in AVALANCHE due to the other's interest in Cloud's mission.

Wanting to keep Cloud safe and to progress their relationship so that they don't break up, Sephiroth invites Cloud to live with him. Things don't go to plan, however, with Sephiroth still unable to break the boundary that Cloud has put up against physical contract. After a night of getting drunk and being scolded by Cloud for it, Sephiroth throws caution to the wind and tells Cloud about his sexual desires regarding the other. Cloud accepts that they need to move on in their relationship and promises to try harder in future. Cloud also has a meeting with AVALANCHE and learns they are going to start bombing reactors. He manages to delay them from bombing it for a while. Elfé begins to get a bit of a crush on Cloud.

Cloud begins to realise that saying he will try to move his relationship on with Sephiroth and doing it are two different things. He starts to try to back out and Sephiroth suggests that he should share his memories of Gongaga so that they can avoid triggers from the incident. Cloud agrees, but will only share his thoughts with Zack there. Cloud shares all the events of Gongaga with them and then goes to bed. The next morning Sephiroth asks Zack if he will act as a sex counsellor-cum-body guard for Cloud while they progress their relationship.

Genesis attacks Shinra HQ and attempts to kidnap Hojo. He is prevented, however, by Cloud, who threatens to shoot Hojo rather than let Genesis have him. Cloud is injured when Genesis blows a hole in the Shinra building and is treated by Hojo, who notices Sephiroth's attachment to him. Cissnei receives orders to keep Zack under observation. Meanwhile, Zack goes missing for a few weeks and when he reappears, he has a scarred face. He's killed Angeal and has been running away from his responsibilities as he felt he'd failed all his friends. Aerith has given him permission to help Sephiroth and Cloud.

Aerith visits Cloud and they get to talking about where Zack has been. Aerith accidentally mentions the idea that Sephiroth had regarding Zack's involvement in their intimate relationship. Cloud waits for Sephiroth and Zack and then rages at them for not even discussing it with him. Sephiroth delivers an ultimatum, Cloud can either agree to it or leave. AVALANCHE make contact with Aerith and Zack takes her out of the way to Costa Del Sol on holiday.

At Junon, Genesis attacks in an attempt to get to Hollander. Sephiroth, Zack and the Turks are all deployed there to clear up. Aerith accidentally blows up a boat in the harbour with a Fire materia. Once they return to Midgar, Cloud is coaxed into trying the threesome idea and is surprised that it is far less awkward than he thought. Although he doesn't actively participate.

Zack begins to think that he and Aerith aren't meant to be together. Cloud tries to convince him that they are. Meanwhile, Sephiroth discovers that Rufus Shinra is the main financier of AVALANCHE but can't decide what to do with the knowledge. AVALANCHE contact Cloud to get him to come to a meeting. Once there he realises that their newest recruit is Tifa Lockhart, a childhood friend from Nibelheim, who has come to Midgar as the monster situation in Nibelheim has got out of control. Sephiroth asks Rufus to look after Cloud. Aerith and Zack's relationship begins to get strained.

To try to make up, Sephiroth, Cloud, Aerith and Zack all go dancing together. When there, Cloud disappears to go to an AVALANCHE meeting. Rufus is also planning to attend that. When Sephiroth realises that Cloud is missing he arranges a search. Reno, who is aware of Rufus' involvement in AVALANCHE, attempts to keep Sephiroth and SOLDIER away from where Cloud is, however, Zack finds Cloud. Cloud has been drugged by Rufus and Elfé records herself having sex with him. They intend to blackmail Cloud to prevent him from telling Shinra about Rufus' involvement. Zack sees Elfé and Cloud having sex and assumes that Cloud is cheating on Sephiroth. Reno picks Cloud up and takes him home to get washed and changed.

Hojo signs a document that will lead to the Nibelheim mission with the full knowledge that he is trying to kill his own son. Cloud meanwhile returns to the apartment and explains that there was an AVALANCHE meeting, though he doesn't mention the Elfé incident. Zack is suspicious and when Sephiroth leaves for food he confronts Cloud. Cloud is forced to explain what happened and Zack promises to help him keep it a secret from Sephiroth.

Cissnei attempts to warn Zack about the Nibelheim mission, but is interrupted by Rufus Shinra who has come to find Sephiroth. Rufus manages to discover some strange activity regarding Cloud and Sephiroth in the computer files and starts to investigate what Hojo and his father are up to. Shears arranges a meeting for AVALANCHE and Cloud goes with fully-loaded guns intending to kill them. Fuhito has betrayed AVALANCHE to Hojo and has been caught. While questioning him, Fuhito reveals Cloud's full identity to AVALANCHE and the resulting gun battle leaves Cloud injured and Shears, Fuhito and other AVALANCHE members dead. He is eventually rescued by Rufus.

Deciding it would be best for Cloud to get out of Midgar, Sephiroth decides to take Cloud back to Nibelheim. He meets Tifa at Cloud's bedside and the girl pretends that she's just a friend of Cloud's and doesn't tell him her involvement in AVALANCHE.

Sephiroth tells Cloud about his intention to take him to Nibelheim once he's well enough to travel and Zack entrusts care of Aerith while he's away to Tseng. Once Cloud is well enough they begin to travel to Nibelheim. Cissnei is arrested and locked in offices on the Turk's Floor of the Shinra HQ. Cloud is dreadfully motion-sick the whole way. Outside Nibelheim they are attacked by a Green Dragon. Sensing something strange about the attack, Cloud climbs the cliffs to find a dragon nest. He takes the baby dragons with the intention of training them to protect Nibelheim.

Once they arrive in Nibelheim, Cloud is treated like a hero for his exploits in bringing down AVALANCHE. Tifa's father greets him and treats him and the other SOLDIERs well. They settle in at the inn before they go to see Cloud's mother. Afterwards, Zack stays with Cloud's mother, Herta Strife, and Sephiroth and Cloud return to the inn. They have sex for the first time. The next day, they have their photo taken in front of the mansion in Nibelheim.

Rufus discovers the truth behind the Nibelheim mission, that it is designed to destroy SOLDIER. He goes to confront his father about it. Meanwhile on the mountain, Cloud leads the way to the reactor. Once he gets there he's too exhausted from injuries sustained from a bridge collapse to go inside so he lets Sephiroth and Zack go inside alone. Rufus confronts President Shinra and, to prevent him from interfering, the President orders Reno to put Rufus into a chemically induced coma and transfer him to Junon.

Inside Sephiroth realises the truth behind the Nibelheim reactor. Genesis arrives, armed with information from Hojo, to drive Sephiroth insane on purpose. Sephiroth begins to realise what he is and his mind is filled with the mocking of his father, Professor Hojo. The final straw is when Genesis produces a tape recording of Cloud having sex with Elfé. Sephiroth attempts to attack him and Zack tries to follow them but they are gone by the time he gets outside. He meets Cloud who hasn't seen them and together they go back to Nibelheim to try to find him.

Cloud's mother mentions she saw Sephiroth going into the Shinra Mansion and Cloud goes to find him. They find Sephiroth in the basement. Cloud tries to explain about Elfé but Sephiroth doesn't appear to take it in. He's obviously gone insane. Cloud refuses to leave him on his own and stays down there for a week.

A week later, Zack wakes up to find Nibelheim on fire. Sephiroth has knocked Cloud out and dragged him up to the reactor. Zack saves the innkeeper and his wife and Herta Strife before he follows Sephiroth up the mountain.

Once in the reactor, Cloud wakes up to discover Mayor Lockhart's head body. He attempts to attack Sephiroth but his thrown down the stairs. Zack tries to defeat Sephiroth but is badly injured. In a final attempt to kill him, Cloud runs him through with the Buster Sword. He then returns to Zack, who he believes is dead.

Sephiroth returns from the room with Jenova's head in his hands. Cloud uses the bullet he'd saved for Elfé to shoot Sephiroth in the shoulder. The other stabs him through the chest with Masamune. In a moment of brief lucidity, Sephiroth hears Cloud curse him and tell him to 'Just die'. Obligingly, Sephiroth jumps into the molten mako below, leaving Cloud for dead.

Cissnei is released from the cells by Tseng, who tells her about the Nibelheim Incident. She is assigned to look after Rufus' comatose form in Junon, as well as keep an eye on the two survivors of the Nibelheim incident, Anabel and Herta.

Hojo arrives at the scene and takes Cloud and Zack into custody for experimentation. Five years later, Zack breaks free from the lab and takes a mako poisoned Cloud with him. Outside he is helped by Cloud's dragons, now fully grown, and manages to escape.

He runs into Cissnei who tells Tseng that she's lost them both and gives Zack the keys to a bike. She tells him that she's going to go on the run now as well. When Zack gets to Gongaga, however, Cissnei is there again. She tells Zack to get out of there and to stop being an idiot. She mentions that her only family is Genesis Rhapsodos, but doesn't reveal her real name. Zack flees from Gongaga and eventually ends up attacked by Genesis. He defeats him and discovers Aerith's last letter to him.

Reno receives orders to assassinate Zack Fair before he arrives in Midgar as well as orders from Tseng not to follow that order. Reno chooses the Company over the Turks to save both himself and Rude from punishment. Tseng can't get hold of Cissnei and he sets off to the desert outside Midgar with a box of letters from Aerith.

Zack and Cloud get towards Midgar. The army catches up to them however and Zack hides Cloud out of the way and takes on the soldiers there. Fatally injured, Zack lays in a pool of his own blood. A mako-insane Cloud attempts to make sense of everything and crawls over to Zack. He agrees to become Zack's living legacy and, in a moment of lucidity, remembers who Zack is. He then begins the trek towards Midgar. On the way he starts to forget everything that had happened before. By the time he reaches Midgar's walls, he is convinced that he is Zack.

Reno arrives on the cliff top and sees that Zack is still alive. Reno asks Zack if he has any last requests. Zack asks that Reno hide the fact that Cloud is still alive, and also that he tells Aerith that he loved her. Reno tells Zack he'll tell Aerith he died a hero and then fires a shot.

Tifa and Elfé find Cloud in Sector 7 and Elfé calls Aerith to treat him. Aerith tells Tifa and Elfé that Cloud isn't all there and has lost his memories. She tells them that he believes himself to be Zack and it might be best to just play along with that until they know what kind of trauma Cloud suffered to cause his soul to be so fractured. Cloud is accepted into AVALANCHE.

On the clifftops of Midgar, Tseng promises to forward the letters to Zack and then, smiling, he walks away.


	2. Mako Reactor

**Title: **_Scars of Friendship_  
**Chapter**: 1/??  
**Comments**: First chapter of _Scars of Friendship_ and one that will feel a bit scatty I'm afraid. I apologise for the POV jumping, but there are a lot of fingers in the Shinra Company Pie, and you need to know what's going on with all of them.

**Chapter One:**

**Mako Reactor**

"C'mon newbie, follow me!" Barret yelled. Cloud jumped off the train, Buster Sword in hand. He grinned. It was so great to be back in Midgar, back where he belonged and where he'd trained. He followed Barret forward and cursed when two guards in red uniforms appeared.

Cloud frowned at the difficulty he had with the Buster Sword. No matter how hard he tried to swing the sword in moves that he could picture so clearly in his head, his muscles protested and he found himself going wrong. He used slightly too much force and accidentally cut one of the guards in half. Wrinkling up his nose in disgust he dispatched the other with a blast of Fire materia. Looking down at the blade confusedly for a moment before flicking it against the ground to get the blood off and running after AVALANCHE's leader.

AVALANCHE were all waiting together at the main gate to the reactor. Cloud rolled his eyes as he approached. Jessie, a mousey-haired woman who was a computer specialist, was busy hacking into the gate. Beside her, a protective boyfriend called Biggs stood, watching her work. Wedge stood to the other side, looking nervous and glancing around suspiciously. Could they get any more obvious?

"You used to be SOLDIER all right. Not every day you get one to join AVALANCHE!" Biggs said, his voice obnoxiously loud. Cloud grimaced. If any Shinra guards were listening up they'd know who he was now.

"SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy?" Jessie asked, without looking up from her control panel. "What's he doing with us?"

"He _was_ in SOLDIER. He quit and is one of us now," Biggs said proudly. Cloud allowed himself to smile crookedly. _Yeah, something like that._

"What's his name?" Jessie asked, wincing as a spark leapt from the console in front of her.

"_I'm Zack Fair! You better not forget it! First Class!"_

"...Cloud..." he replied, folding his arms before him. He really didn't like being talked about like he wasn't there.

"Cloud, eh? Funny name if ya ask me," Wedge said, his gaze fixed on Cloud.

"And Wedge is better?" Jessie asked, poking the console before her exasperatedly with a screwdriver.

"My name's-" Biggs began.

"I don't care what your names are. Once the job's over, I'm gone," Cloud interrupted. This was a favour for Tifa. If he was honest with himself, something didn't sit right with him about it. He felt that it was wrong to turn against his employer so much that he would blow up their property... But then, he guessed that if he left SOLDIER eventually he was going to have to fight some Shinra guys, so it was probably better to be active rather than passive.

"Well, ain't that just-" Wedge began but at that moment Cloud caught someone coming out of the corner of his eye and drew his sword. He lowered it again when he saw it was Barret, their leader for the time being.

"The hell y'all doin'!? I thought I told ya never to move in a group?!" Barret shouted. Cloud thought there was some irony to be had here, but decided to stay quiet all the same. Barret continued to give out even more information. "Our target is the North Mako Reactor. We'll meet at the bridge in front of it."

_Hm... There's going to be something nasty waiting for us on that bridge..._ Cloud was a little amused by how amateurish they all were.

He wiped the look off his face when Barret turned around to him. The man regarded him suspiciously, his dark eyes scanning Cloud's face. His gun-arm was transforming between fingers and gun barrels as he thought.

"SOLDIER, eh? Don' trust ya," he said, to Cloud's eternal surprise. "You stickin' with me, ya hear?"

Cloud nodded and at that moment the door to the reactor opened. Jessie looked relieved and got to her feet. She, Biggs and Wedge all ran into the reactor. Barret remained staring at Cloud for a long moment before Cloud made a curtseying gesture of 'after you'. The man snorted and ran into the reactor, leaving Cloud to follow. It wasn't too hard, not with Barret's rather slow pace.

Inside they came to the initial bridge and Cloud frowned slightly. It was all typical to the layout he remembered from somewhere but-

"I'll secure the escape. You concentrate on the mission, Cloud," Wedge said. Cloud scowled, not liking being told what to do by someone who had been so amateur outside. "We're gonna blow this furnace up! This is gonna be something ta see!"

Cloud shook his head and left Wedge to his delusion of grandeur. A lot of people were going to die today. It wasn't right to be so enthusiastic about it, even if you were fanatical about saving the Planet.

The main control rooms were empty, something that surprised Cloud. He had been expecting the place to be swarming with guards. It was almost too easy for them. Jessie was pressing something on the door that was making plenty of 'blips' but not much else. Cloud began to wonder if she was just trying to guess the code.

"Yo! This yer firs' time in a reactor?" Barret asked him as he walked towards them all. Cloud put his hand on his hip.

"No. After all, I worked for Shinra you know," he replied.

"_I wasn't sure at first, but you'll make a pretty good Turk. If you were in my own division I'd have definitely made you my partner."_

"The Planet's full of mako energy. It's used every day-" Barret was waffling with his nerves. Cloud didn't blame him but he wished the man would stop treating him like an idiot. "-its the Planet's life blood. But Shinra keeps suckin' the blood out with these machines."

_Well, that's _your_ theory, anyway..._

"I'm not here for a lecture on mako energy. Let's just hurry and get out of here," he said, glancing over at Jessie again. She was nervously tucking her hair behind her ears as she pressed the last button.

"Code deciphered," Biggs announced and Cloud watched the door open. Jessie beamed and turned to smile at him but Cloud ignored her, walking past and into the next room.

The next few codes were a lesson in patience for Cloud. He glanced down at his watch. There was only a certain amount of retardedness he could take in a day, and he was reaching his limit. When it came to the final code and Jessie wavered she stepped forward, leaning around her and clearing the code she'd put in.

Without knowing what he was doing he entered a code he vaguely remembered. The doors opened with a cheery "HELLO!" running across the screen. He stepped around the stunned AVALANCHE members and walked into the lift.

"How did you know the code?" Biggs asked, looking at Cloud with a mix of hero worship and suspicion. Cloud shrugged.

"Employee override code," he said. Jessie stepped into the lift with him pressed the red button, causing the lift to descend. He was aware of everyone's eyes on him.

"Only top personnel are given the override codes..." Jessie said, eyeing him warily. Cloud shrugged.

"I was a First Class SOLDIER," he pointed out. She nodded, but her eyes were still troubled. Biggs put his hand on her shoulder and the two began to confer in whispers that Cloud pretended he couldn't hear. Beside him, Barret was still nervously switching his gun arm on and off.

"Little by little the reactors'll drain all the life. An' tha'll be that," Barret said, almost to himself. Cloud put his hands in his pockets.

"It's not my problem," he replied, keeping his eyes on the door to the lift. If they were going to be attacked, it would be the moment the doors opened.

"The Planet's dyin' an you don' care?!" Barret asked, looking outraged. Cloud was a little amused by it all. Did the man really think he cared for the cause? He'd worked for _Shinra_ after all.

"The only thing I care about is finishing this job before the security and Roboguards come," he replied, not wanting to mention that security should have been here already.

The elevator stopped and Cloud drew his sword. Biggs and Barret looked alarmed but Jessie nodded to him and kept her finger on the close-door button. Cloud made his way to the front and gave her a swift nod. The door opened and Cloud wasn't met with a barrage of bullets. He looked around suspiciously and then lowered his sword.

"It's safe," he announced and stepped out into the more dangerous area of the reactor.

Cloud quickly climbed down the reactor, ignoring the others who stationed themselves randomly through the place, or Barret who hulked down the ladders with the grace of a baboon. He walked across the bridge and stared at the heart of the mako reactor. He'd seen something like this before, though it had been different some how...

"When we blow this place, it ain't gonna be more than a hunk a' junk," Barret said, smiling. Cloud just nodded absently, waiting for the other to place the bomb. When Barret didn't move he looked at him questioningly.

"Cloud, you set the bomb," he said, holding it out. Cloud looked down at Barret's hand and then back up at the man's face.

"Shouldn't you do it?" he said, pointedly. There would be no passing the blame onto him if this whole thing failed. He really didn't want to be responsible for anything that Jessie had rigged up.

"Jus' do it! I gotta watch an' make sure ya don' pull nothin'!" Barret said. Cloud wondered what Barret thought he was going to 'pull'. He certainly didn't intend to do anything ridiculous like pushing Barret into the pool of mako below...

"_Watch out! This isn't just a reactor!"_

"Wha's wrong?" Barret asked. Cloud shook his head, pushing the bomb to the reactor and setting it ticking. He straightened as the alarm began to ring. He sighed. Just great.

"Heads up! Here they come!" Barret said, sounding exhilarated. Cloud drew his Buster Sword, wishing he felt more confident as the Guard Scorpion landed on the bridge in front of them.

*

Reno stared at his phone. The longer he left it, the worse it would be, he knew. Even so, orders were orders, and that was all he'd been doing. He didn't want to end up like Fair, murdered by a company who thought that he'd outgrown his use. He was just a dog who followed orders, after all.

He glanced down at his bandaged hand. He hadn't allowed them to heal it with Potions or materia. It wasn't right. He deserved the wound. It was almost a love tap for Rufus anyway.

Rufus... He was in Junon, happily pretending to have no part or knowledge of the events of a few weeks before. Reno gritted his teeth. There was evidence in his _hand _that Rufus had been involved, evidence all over the dirty stained bandages...

He lifted the phone to his ear and pressed dial, taking a deep breath to try to get rid of some of the useless anger he felt.

"This is the voice mail service for Rufus Shinra. Please leave a message after the tone..."

Reno considered hanging up, but instead he closed his eyes and ran his good hand through his hair tiredly.

"I'm sorry, yo."

*

"Barret! We need to get out of here!" Cloud said as the man fired a few more shots into the twitching but definitely immobilised Guard Scorpion. The man didn't appear to hear him. Cloud snarled and whacked the man lightly on the back of the head.

"Barret! We only have ten minutes to evacuate everyone!" he snapped. Barret seemed to come out of Berserker Mode then and turned around and started running towards the exit. Cloud followed him, climbing up the ladders and platforms. He saw Jessie was stuck and sent Barret on ahead, helping her get her leg out from where she'd caught it in the grate. Her smile was bright as she ran on in front of him. He purposefully didn't stare at her ass.

They quickly passed through the rest of the reactor and Cloud glanced down at his watch. They had plenty of time before-

An explosion knocked him off his feet.

*

"Sir! There's been an explosion at Reactor 7!" A panicked attendant said. Reeve looked up from his desk tiredly. It was too late in the day for this kind of crap. He brought up a virtual map of the city on his computer, noting that it was showing complete destruction of Reactor 7 and its surrounding area.

"AVALANCHE?" Reeve asked, looking up at the attendant. The man looked shocked that he couldn't say for sure. Reeve sighed and dismissed him.

They were growing bolder, AVALANCHE, that was for sure. He couldn't say that he didn't sympathise a little though. Seeing Shinra from the inside, it was rotten. He could only imagine what it looked like from outside.

*

"That should keep the Planet going... a little while longer..." Biggs said. Cloud just looked at him. It might have kept the Planet going a little longer, but it hadn't been good for _their_ health.

"I don't know what went wrong..." Jessie said softly. Cloud noticed that she was about to blow another hole in the wall for them to escape from where they were trapped. Cloud swiftly took it off her.

"I'll use a normal grenade, thanks," he said, without looking at her. He reached into his pocket, taking out the grenade and putting it on the ground near the wall that was least likely to have the roof come down on their heads. A small, _controlled_, explosion later and they were running out into the square.

Immediately the others began to run off in prearranged directions, Wedge still smoking from where he'd got singled by the first bomb. Barret caught his eye.

"We'll talk about money back at th' hideout," he said. Cloud nodded and began to run, opening up and using his mako enhanced muscles to outrun all the others. He loved the feeling of speed, the tirelessness of his body... He eventually got far enough away that he could slow down.

It was a posher area of the slums, although still pretty rough. There was graffiti and an over-turned car near the fountain. Gangs of street kids were roaming, eyeing him up to see whether or not they could pick his pocket. Once glance from him sent them scattering the word 'SOLDIER' on their lips. As they ran they knocked over a woman with a flower basket. She attempted to pick up her flowers.

Cloud walked towards her. She was pretty, in a delicate way. Her hair was a warm chestnut and it ran down her back in a long, thick plait, apart from two curls that hung by the side of her face in perfect ringlets. She dressed modestly for a slum girl, although her clothes did show evidence of wear and tear and were heavily repaired.

She finally turned her face up towards him when his boots came into her line of sight. Green eyes widened upon seeing him-

_Green eyes... So familiar..._

-and then she seemed to wipe her expression, standing up and brushing off her clothes.

"Do I know you?" Cloud heard himself asking. The woman smiled at him.

"I helped you a little when you first came to Midgar..." she said. Cloud frowned. He was a little fuzzy on the details and Tifa was always reluctant to talk about it. He supposed he could know her from then.

"What happened?" she asked. Cloud blinked.

"Nothing..." he said automatically, then realised that she was _definitely_ going to remember seeing him if she was questioned by Shinra... He needed to sweeten her up a little.

"D-Don't see many flowers around here...?" he said. She smiled at him looked down at the flowers in her basket.

"No... _You _used to see them a lot though," she said. Cloud wasn't sure he got what she meant. "Would you like one to take with you? They're only one gil," she said. Cloud nodded and held out his hand for one. She lightly passed one over to him.

"Thank you," she said and for some reason her eyes filled with tears. She turned and ran away. Cloud was confused but decided not to chase after her. He had a train to catch after all.

*

Herta looked up at the night sky. There was a strong sea breeze that had blown away the smog today. The sound of the city was behind her and the sound of the sea in front.

She felt free, even though there was a heavy sadness weighing in her gut.

"Herta, you'll catch a cold out here without a coat."

She turned to see Rufus Shinra. He was holding out his own coat for her. She slipped into it, noticing it was still warm from his body. Rufus was such a good boy. Apparently, when in his coma, he'd been able to hear Herta's voice and had been grateful to her. She noticed that, now he was well enough to be up and about without support, that he sought her out more often than not to relax.

"Today, my Cloud would have been twenty-five," she said, feeling old and tired. "I was wondering what he would have been doing now..."

Rufus' arm wrapped around her shoulder. He looked troubled. "Herta, you should go back inside with Annie," he said. She sighed and looked up at him. So many features inherited from his mother, but still so much of his father in him. His father from when he was younger, of course.

"How old are you, Rufus?" Herta asked. He didn't seem to mind the question, though he looked a little wary.

"Twenty-seven," he replied.

"That would make Reno thirty, yes?" she asked. Rufus looked slightly surprised before his eyes narrowed.

"And what has that Turk got to do with anything?" he asked. Herta patted his cheek, smiling.

"I listened to your voice mail," she replied. Rufus looked alarmed causing her to laugh.

"Don't worry, dear, I didn't hear anything too private. I just don't want you to watch your chances pass by. Reno is in a dangerous job. One day, you'll turn around and he won't be there for you anymore," she said. No, there was one thing that she consoled herself with. Cloud had died in love with someone and happy. Even if that person had eventually killed him, she was certain that Cloud would never wish away those moments of happiness. A foolhardy love, but love all the same.

"Reno Sinclair drugged me and carried out various heinous missions for that inept bastard who calls himself my father," Rufus said disdainfully. Herta wrinkled up her nose. Whatever Rupert Shinra had done to his son to make him think like this must have been terrible. It wasn't the man she had known.

"Reno Sinclair got over his pride and apologised to you," Herta reminded him. Rufus shook his head, looking vaguely amused despite himself.

"Get inside, Herta. I'm sure we can continue to discuss my love life in the warm," he said. She allowed herself to be steered inside, looking up at the man she had hoped Cloud would become.

*

Cloud cursed. There were too many of them. For some reason he thought that he could take them all on unscathed, but then when he'd tried, he found himself struggling. His muscles ached and his grip on the Buster Sword fumbled.

_I must be out of practise..._

"Enough babbling! Grab him!" One of the Guards yelled. Cloud turned his back on them all. He could hear the train coming under the bridge. If timed just right he would....

He landed with both feet onto the roof of the train, grinning as he felt the wind rush through his hair. He turned around and waved to the guards cheerfully before starting to climb down the side and kicking the door open to the carriage.

He loved the shocked faces that surrounded him. Barret looked like he was going to blow a fuse, he was close to shooting him. Jessie looked like she was high on something. Biggs and Wedge were staring at him like he was a monster that had jumped into the carriage.

"Looks like I'm a little late."

"You damn right, you're late!" Barret snapped. "Come waltzin' in, makin' a big scene! Stupid flashy Shinra bastard."

Cloud smirked. "Ex-Shinra bastard you mean. I don't know what the fuss is about, this is what I always do."

"_Aw! Angeal. C'mon man. I was just getting warmed up!"_

"Shit! You had everyone worried but you don' give a damn abou' no one but yerself!" Barret yelled. Cloud wondered if he was about to start beating his chest in a minute. He tried to stop smiling, aware that it was winding the other up.

"You were worried about me, big guy?" he asked. Barret's eyes bugged in his head.

"Wha?!" He didn't seem to know if Cloud was hitting on him or not. "I'm takin' this outta yer money hot stuff!" he replied, unaware that Jessie was snickering into her hand at what was being said and how it could be construed.

With that Barret ran off into the other carriages with Biggs and Wedge. Cloud watched them go, more than happy to wait in the cargo hold. They were less likely to get noticed in here after all. Jessie got up and closed the door to prevent the draft and then got out a white handkerchief. He leaned away when she tried to wipe his face.

"You're all black," she said. Cloud wiped his arm across his cheeks instead. He didn't want the girl to get to close for some reason. He felt a little uncomfortable with contact.

"Well... You can use the hanky," she said, forcing it into his hand. It was then that she saw the flower peeking out of Cloud's pocket. She blinked at it for a moment before looking up at his face. Seeing his stony expression she quickly looked away and followed Barret into the train.

*

Tseng sighed. Elena wasn't shaping up that well at all. She just wasn't Turk material. However, they needed a replacement for Cissnei for honey traps and Elena was going to have to do.

Tseng's thoughts went to another blond Turk he'd trained. Strife had been excellent in comparison. Level-headed, a sharp shot, tight-lipped and appropriately jaded for the role he had chosen. By comparison, Elena was chipper, naïve and _useless_ with weaponry.

"I can do better, boss, sir," she said. Tseng doubted it but he nodded, folding his arms.

He wished Nibelheim had never happened.

*

Hojo growled. His attempts at recreating Sephiroth were failing. The SOLDIER, the last of his kind, was puking up green liquid all over the lab and his assistants weren't strong enough to restrain him.

"Dump him in the Slums. He's of no use to me," he said, side-stepping a puddle of puke. He almost missed Strife now. He hadn't shown signs of changing into Sephiroth, but he'd at least been powerful. No one else had been so receptive and still remain a certain amount of physical stability. Okay, so the man had lost his mind, but that didn't matter so much so long as he would follow orders.

"Find someone else. Someone younger this time," Hojo ordered, turning away from the scene.

*

Cissnei hurriedly pushed back her veil. It was too hot in the Costa Del Sol to remain under one for long. She didn't want her wedding pictures, however rushed they were going to be, to have make-up running down her face. The marriage was a cover, mostly, to protect them from Shinra's searching eyes. They wouldn't be looking for a couple. They wouldn't be looking for a Mr. and Mrs. Sergeant either.

"You aren't the girl I thought I'd be marrying," her husband muttered, quiet enough that the priest didn't hear. Cissnei looked up into his warm eyes and didn't even both to look ashamed.

"Sometimes, you've just got to make do. Now don't forget your vows. You're meant to be happily in love with me. Say the wrong name and I _will_ kill you."

*

Cloud stepped out onto the train platform and looked around. He could almost smell Tifa's cooking from here. He was going to have to stuff himself silly when he got back to Seventh Heaven. He was about to get going when he noticed Elfé lurking at the edge of the platform. When she saw him her eyes widened and she turned on her heel, walking swiftly away.

Elfé was weird, but he'd grown used to her. She refused to work on missions with him, wouldn't speak when he was there and generally seemed to take offence at his presence. Cloud didn't mind so much, but it was unnerving to have her brown eyes watching him constantly, as though waiting for him to make a wrong move.

He hoped that this would convince her that he wasn't whatever it was she thought he was.

He sighed and looked up at the Plate above his head. It had been a long night and it still wasn't over yet.

*

Somewhere in Midgar a black mist began to gather, swirling along the eddies of the wind and creeping closer to the Shinra Building.


	3. Short Skirts and Reactor 5

**Title: **_Scars of Friendship_  
**Chapter**: 2/??  
**Comments**: Thank you for your response! And for putting up with the amount of novelization of the game, particularly in these early parts. I promise you that before we even get out of Midgar, things are going to start to be _very_ different. It should be apparent in this chapter that things are definitely changing.

**Chapter Two:**

**Short Skirts and Reactor 5**

Cloud entered Seventh Heaven feeling like he was coming home. He could smell Nibel Stew, Tifa's speciality, and he could smell the heavy scent of well-looked after wood. The bar had been well-polished and all the wood was well-treated, despite its place in the Slums. No one stold timber from AVALANCHE, Cloud supposed.

"Papa!" Marlene shouted. Upon seeing Cloud, however, she quickly turned away and went to hide. Cloud sighed. For some reason Marlene was terrified of him. He thought it was possible the eyes, but he couldn't say for sure.

Tifa came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a tea towel. Seeing Marlene hiding and Cloud stood there looking rather spooked she sent him a reassuring smile. She knelt down next to Marlene, putting her hands on the little girl's shoulders.

"Marlene... Aren't you going to say anything to Cloud?" she prompted, looking deep into the girl's eyes. Cloud took a moment to admire Tifa while she was distracted. Her long hair was swept over her shoulders and she had a smudge of flour on her cheek from the dumplings. Her clothes, too tight and faded to fit in with the slums, accented every curve she had, leaving little to the imagination. Her skirt had risen up when she crouched down and Cloud could see a length of tanned thigh.

She glanced up and Cloud pretended he'd been looking at her face all along.

"Welcome home, Cloud. Looks like everything went well," she said, standing up and letting Marlene hide behind her. "Did you fight with Barret again?"

"Yeah," he admitted. She looked disappointed at that and she glanced down at Marlene before she spoke again.

"Barret... Just wants to be careful..." she said, folding her arms. "You were always getting into trouble..."

Cloud squirmed uncomfortably at the mention of the past and pulled out Jessie's handkerchief from his pocket awkwardly, going to wipe his face to see if that would help make Marlene less afraid. He didn't notice the flower that fell out of his pocket until he followed Tifa's eyeline to it.

"Flowers? How nice..." she said, but she looked like she'd seen a ghost. "You don't see them often in the Slums..." Cloud wondered if she knew the woman who had given him the flower, seeing as she apparently had healed him...

"It's for Marlene, if she'd like it?" he said, holding out the slightly crumpled thing. Tifa watched as the girl snatched it from his fingers and hid behind Tifa again. Cloud sighed and straightened.

"I guess she's just a little shy," Tifa replied with a shrug. "She'll get used to you eventually."

Cloud somewhat doubted it. He'd never been good with kids... He'd never particularly wanted any either. Kids were just... things for other people. People who were confident with them. People who could, y'know, handle snot and puke and other things.

Tifa went to work behind the bar and Marlene went to hide behind the pinball machine. Cloud didn't follow either of them. Biggs and Wedge were sat at the tables, mopping stew out of their bowls with chunks of homemade bread. He glanced at Tifa, wondering if she was going to offer him any. She was too busy cleaning glasses and putting them on shelves to notice though.

He sat down next to Wedge and snagged his food. The other made a noise of protest but Cloud just stared at him until he gave up.

"Yeah, well, I was finished anyway... It's my second helping. Tifa always lets me taste her cooking!" Wedge said proudly. Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't think you people liked Nibelheimer food," he said, though he couldn't remember where he'd heard that before. Wedge looked confused.

"It's just stew," he said, looking mournfully at the bowl that Cloud had requisitioned. Cloud held up a piece of brown meat, dripping gravy into the bowl.

"What do you think this is?" he asked. Wedge looked at it.

"Beef?" he said, thinking Cloud was stupid. Cloud shook his head.

"It's Nibel Wolf," he said, popping it into his mouth. Wedge turned green.

"Papa! Welcome home!"

Cloud looked up to see Barret lumbering in. He looked around and saw Cloud was there and gave him a nod before picking up his little girl, swinging her round and then sitting her on one of his broad shoulders. Marlene giggled and tucked the flower behind his ear.

"Huh? Where'd ya get that?" Barret asked. Marlene stroked one of the petals.

"Cloud gave it to me," she replied. Cloud felt a stupid grin rising to his face.

_Well, maybe you managed to charm at least _one_ lady after all..._

"And did you say thank you?" Barret asked sternly. Marlene shook his head.

"Barret, really, it's fine-" Cloud began but the black man gave him a dark look and he shut his mouth. Marlene looked at her feet.

"'nk you Cloud," she mumbled. It wasn't exactly the most emphatic display of gratitude but it made Cloud beam at her.

"No problem, Marlene," he said, trying to be friendly. She just cast him a frightened glance and then hugged her dad's head. Tifa walked back around the bar, folding her arms across her chest as she regarded Barret.

"Is everything all right?" she asked. Barret opened his mouth to say something then shook his head, glancing up to Marlene above his head. Tifa nodded and then walked back behind the bar, clearly not wanting to have anything else to do with the matter until Marlene was in bed. Cloud watched as Barret called a meeting and went to the pinball machine, activating the lift to the basement. It had freaked Cloud out at first, but now he was sort of used to the wacky ways that AVALANCHE hid themselves.

He still couldn't believe they'd managed to blow up a reactor.

He walked to the bar. He'd let AVALANCHE proper have their little meeting before he went and demanded money. Tifa looked at him with warm affection in her eyes.

"Sit down, I'll fix you something," she said. Cloud wondered what kind of wife she'd make. He'd come home and she'd fix him some whiskey and his dinner and they'd talk about all the ass they'd kicked that day or something... Somehow, he couldn't see it.

"Give me something hard," he said. She giggled and tucked her hair behind her ear. She went straight for the whiskey poured him a loose measure, dropping a few cubes of ice into the bottom. He took it and downed it, gesturing for another with his glass. With a smile, Tifa refilled it.

"You know.... I'm relieved you made it back safely," Tifa said, her eyes scanning him over for injuries. Cloud just stared back at her blankly.

"That wasn't a tough job for a SOLDIER..." he replied. Her face filled with colour and she turned away, wiping down the bar.

"O-Of course_._ I forget sometimes that you were..." she stopped and shook her head. "Sorry Cloud. I was miles away."

Cloud put the drink down on the bar. He wasn't sure how she could forget something like that. He couldn't. The hours of training-

_-but hadn't that been with a gun?_

-the calluses on his hands-

-_but weren't they soft and work free?_

-the mako of his eyes!

Cloud was relieved when that nagging voice didn't return. He got to his feet, clutching his head as he tried to ignore the pain shooting between his temples.

"Are you okay?" Tifa asked. Cloud gritted his teeth and forced a smile onto his face.

"I'm fine, Tifa," he replied. She watched him warily for a moment.

"Well... Don't forget to collect your pay from Barret," she said unnecessarily. Cloud nodded. There was no way that he'd risked his life for no reason. He tried to reassure her, but she still was looking at him like he had some kind of terminal illness. It made his skin crawl.

"Don't worry. Once I get that money from Barret I'm outta here," he said. Tifa winced but said nothing, picking up a glass and inspecting it to hide her expression. Cloud felt a little bad. Maybe he could stay around a little, for Tifa's sake, but really, there were no jobs in Midgar. He'd be able to earn more hunting monsters in the sticks than beating up thugs and blowing up reactors in Midgar. It wasn't even like he could hunt bounties, seeing as he was pretty sure Shinra wouldn't want to see him right now.

He walked over to the pinball machine and pulled the level, ignoring the way his stomach twitched as he went below.

*

Herta stared at the television in shock. AVALANCHE sure were getting better at what they did. The pictures on the news showed that the whole reactor had gone up, taking out most of the surrounding shanty town as well. Approximately three hundred people were injured and eighty were dead.

"Disgusting," she said, flicking the channel over. Anabel gave her a startled look but said nothing. Over the last five years the two women who had lost everything had come to accept each other's idiosyncrasies. They were both held captive by President Shinra to prevent the dirty secret of Nibelheim's destruction coming out. Although Herta wasn't sure what that dirty secret was supposed to be.

She assumed she was only still alive because the Turks had fought for her. Cloud had been one of them, and they had extended their protection to her by default. Reno had become a particular favourite of hers. He was crude, but that just made him all the more amusing. He made an old woman feel young again, particularly as he would flirt with her as freely as anyone else who happened into his line of sight.

"I honestly thought Cloud had destroyed them," Anabel said. Herta's hand tightened on the remote.

"They deserve to be destroyed. I hope Shinra catches them all and executes them!" she spat. Anabel seemed shocked by that and remained quiet, adjusting her shawl. Herta sighed and looked at the TV, which was now showing a game show.

"There someone in that organisation that hurt Cloud. I want to see her suffer for what she did," Herta said softly. Anabel murmured something but Herta was too lost in her thoughts to understand what it was she was saying.

She would speak to Rufus in the morning. Make sure that they looked for that Elfé first of all.

*

Elfé leaned against the wall in the hideout, surveying the scene. Barret and Wedge were arguing over the number of casualties while Jessie just looked guilty that her bomb had killed so many.

_Pathetically weak... They're so amateur. Did I really give AVALANCHE over to these guys? Where is their backbone? We were something to be feared! We were an organisation to rival Shinra!_

The lift descended with Cloud on. He glanced around the room, his eyes lingering on her no more than they did the rest. He looked absolutely _dead_. His eyes, thought glowing, often appeared focused on something beyond what normal people could see. Elfé knew now that he was seeing Zack's memories and trying to reconcile them into his own twisted version of the way things were, but she knew the others just thought Cloud was a bit of a whack job.

_He is just a bit of a whack job, Elfé, but you have some responsibility in that too, don't you? Is that why you refuse to talk to him? Because in your own way, you think you have something to atone for and if you talk to him, he might remember too? Coward!_

Wedge's eyes turned around to Cloud and he began to try to draw the other into his argument. Cloud really appeared not to care, far from the passionate but determined creature that Elfé remembered. This Cloud... wasn't really Cloud at all. Elfé hadn't known Zack, but she was pretty sure from Aerith's reaction that Cloud wasn't fully _Zack_ either. He was just somewhere in purgatory.

_Is he living for the sake of it?_

"The next mission is to blow up the Sector 5 reactor," Elfé told him. Cloud looked surprised she'd spoken but he nodded and leaned against the wall beside her, resting the Buster Sword next to him. It needed a good oiling and sharpening. Elfé frowned.

Cloud had always used guns in the past right? SOLDIER used swords... Which meant that Cloud probably was really confused with having to use a blade right now. He probably didn't know how to care for it... Elfé decided then and there that she would make it her mission to get that sword buffed up and cared for.

"Yo! Cloud! There's somethin' I wanna ask ya!" Barret said. Cloud looked at him and Elfé felt a shiver go through her at how annoyed Cloud looked. The Cloud she knew had been cold but never... never...

"Was there anyone from SOLDIER there today?" Barret asked. Cloud shook his head.

"None. I'm positive," Cloud replied. Elfé glanced at Barret, wondering why he was asking.

"You sound pretty sure..." he said testingly. Elfé couldn't hold it back any longer.

"You _know_ there were no SOLDIERs! SOLDIER has been disbanded already!" she snapped. Cloud looked at her out of the corner of his eye and Barret had the grace to look ashamed.

"When did that happen?" Cloud asked. Elfé bit her tongue and looked away, not sure what to tell him. Everyone else in the room was looking at him like he was odd though.

"It doesn't matter when it happened. The truth is that the only SOLDIERs left are fugitives... Which reminds me, Kunsel told me to tell you to include him on the next mission. He said he's got to come back to Midgar and _his _trail went cold," Elfé said. Successfully distracting Cloud from the issue of SOLDIER and moving the conversation on, she shut her mouth and waited for things to play out.

"Kunsel, eh? It'll be nice to have him back. Can't rely on SOLDIER boy here all the time," Barret conceded. Jessie frowned.

"Isn't Kunsel a SOLDIER too?" she asked. Elfé noticed that Cloud's hand went up to his temple and his eyes fogged for a moment.

"I knew Kunsel. He was a good guy. Got a promotion from some shit that went down in Gongaga with Wutaian terrorists," he said. Elfé winced at how he referred to something that had scarred his body and soul as 'some shit'. She'd have to warn Kunsel about Cloud's amnesia.

"Anyway, I came to collect my money. Let's go upstairs and talk," he said. Elfé watched as Cloud left without another word. Barret gaped after him.

"You know, that was mighty cold," Wedge said. Elfé snorted.

"You're hiring mercenaries. He's not going to be enthusiastic about the cause," she pointed out. Barret began to hit the punch bag and Elfé resisted the urge to laugh.

Even half-insane, Cloud was getting one over on AVALANCHE.

*

Reno resisted the urge to check his phone _again_. Rude was getting annoyed with him. Their mission had been to check out the remains of Reactor 7 and that was what they were doing. Although there wasn't much to check. It was still on _fire_ in some places.

He glanced down at his phone. No new messages...

"Reno," he heard Rude groan and he put his phone back in his pocket.

"Sorry, buddy. Jus' expectin' a phone call, yo," he said. Rude kicked a bit of rubble aside with his foot.

"President will be pissed if it's who I think it is," he said, surveying the area. Reno grinned.

"Well, I always had a thing for playin' with fire," he replied. At that moment another bit of the flaming reactor fell down and Reno coughed as a fresh wave of burning mako stink rose into the air.

"Shit, I'm going to be glowin' by the time we finish here," he said. He reached down to move a chunk of metal with his hands that might have, once, been the wall of the reactor.

"You ain't healed your hand," Rude pointed out. Reno looked at his bandaged hand and shook his head.

"'s penance," he replied. Rude frowned slightly.

"For doing your job?" he asked. Reno shook his head.

"No, for failin', yo."

*

"Cloud... I'm asking you to join us," Tifa said. Cloud shook his head. He really didn't want to become known as AVALANCHE's pet SOLDIER. Although if Kunsel was with them, he could perhaps talk to the other man to find out how the hell he'd let them be so _amateur_ about it all.

"Sorry, Tifa," he said, putting his hands in his pockets. Her red eyes filled with disappointment.

"But... the Planet is dying. Someone has to do something!" Tifa protested. Cloud's head felt fuzzy for a moment but then it cleared. Hadn't Tifa joined AVALANCHE out of hatred of Shinra rather than love of the Planet?

"Let Barret and his buddies do something about it. It's got nothing to do with me," he said. Tifa bit her lip as though fighting not to say something she'd regret. Figuring she was done, Cloud turned to leave.

"So that's it? You're leaving, huh? Just abandoning your childhood friend?!" she demanded. Cloud felt something clench in his gut and he stopped. He hunched a little, feeling her eyes in his back. It wasn't like that...

_Well, c'mon ladies man, lets see you work some magic here..._

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied without turning to her. He heard her foot stomp on the wood.

"You forgot your promise too!" she protested. Cloud frowned, trying to remember ever promising her anything. Vague memories of a well in Nibelheim came back.

_Help... Promise... Hero? Am I a hero now?_

"You remember?" Tifa sounded anxious. Cloud looked up at her.

"I'm not a hero. I'm not famous. I can't keep that promise, Tifa," he replied. Tifa's gaze softened and she reached out to ruffle his hair. He put up with it, mostly because it felt comforting and familiar, though he couldn't remember her doing it before.

"But you did manage to join Shinra, didn't you?" Tifa asked. Cloud raised an eyebrow. Was she trying to blackmail him by using a childhood promise?

The pinball machine disappeared and Tifa dropped her hand from Cloud's head to watch Barret emerge from the hideout. He threw something at Cloud who caught it on instinct.

"Here ya go, short-stuff. A promise is a promise," he said. Cloud looked at the money in his hand and immediately felt his blood pressure go up.

"_This _is my pay?" he asked, staring at the money in his hand. "Next time, I want at least three thousand or you can go elsewhere."

"Cloud! You mean you'll-"

"What?!"

Cloud let the two argue it out and he folded his arms. Tifa seemed to be winning, mostly because Barret seemed to be rather distracted by her chest. He couldn't blame the guy. It was a rather impressive rack.

_Should you be thinking like that about your childhood friend?_

"Two thousand!" Barret finally said. Cloud rolled his eyes. Barely worth doing it for.

"Thanks Cloud," Tifa said, patting his shoulder. Cloud shrugged her off and walked to the bar.

"I'm going to need a drink if I have to sleep here tonight."

*

Tifa had never felt as awkward as she did that night. Sleeping all in the same room as AVALANCHE was bad enough without having Cloud in there as well. His nightmares woke everyone up on more than one occasion and Tifa wasn't sure if he was remembering things or just having nightmares due to pressure. Even so, he didn't seem to remember them when he woke up the next morning and the other members of AVALANCHE seemed to have the tact not to say anything.

"Good morning," she said warily. She didn't want to seem unnatural but at the same time she appreciated that the others were expecting _her _to broach the subject. "Did you... um... sleep all right last night?"

"Next to you? Who wouldn't?" Cloud replied, a charming smile on his face. It was out of character for the Cloud she knew, and she wasn't sure that she liked him flirting with her as much as she'd thought she would. Deciding to play dumb she crossed her arms and frowned.

"I'm not sure what you mean," she said lightly. Across the room from her, Elfé snickered. She walked towards them and then stood there, her hands in the pockets of her shorts.

"Me and Tifa are going this time," she said. Cloud frowned for a moment.

"And Kunsel?" he asked. Elfé shrugged.

"He'll probably meet us there. He usually stays away from the hideout so that he's not linked to it," she explained. Tifa watched Cloud's face blank, the trademark expression of him trying to reconcile his own memories and the made-up persona he'd created somewhere in his brain. She shared a glanced with Elfé. The brown-haired woman gave her a reassuring smile that made Tifa's stomach feel a little weird. She quickly looked away.

_Now is not the time to start thinking about other AVALANCHE members as potential dating partners..._

"Our target is the Sector 5 Reactor," Elfé said. Tifa watched Cloud's expression set into a determined one. "Head to the station first. Barret's going to fill us in on the train."

"Oh goodie," Cloud remarked sarcastically and Tifa couldn't help but blush at the innuendo.

*

Cloud stepped onto the train and tried his best not to wrinkle up his nose. Elfé being there immediately set him on edge. The woman had been described as dangerous to him by Tifa, who had said little more than that about her. Even so, Cloud could see by the way she handled herself that she was more than experienced in combat.

She stepped up beside him and leaned back. At first, Cloud thought she was checking out his ass and felt distinctly uncomfortable, but as he shifted he realised she was checking out the blade. She gestured with her hands in a 'May I?' way and he nodded, allowing her to lift the blade from his back.

She thumbed the edge and tutted, running her hands along the blade. He was slightly ashamed when her hands came across bits of rust dried on gore that he hadn't cleaned off yet. She didn't seem to mind that much though.

"I'll buff it up for you," she said, sitting down with it across her lap and drawing a cloth and some oil from her pocket. Cloud guessed he had no choice. "You'll have to take it to a weaponsmith for sharpening though. This thing is too long for your average whetstone."

That said she began to busy herself with the blade, sliding the grease along its dulled silver surface until a bit of it's original sheen began to show through.

"I _said_, you say sumthin'?!" Further down the cart Barret seemed to be attracting attention to himself again. Cloud left Elfé to her polishing and went to cool things down.

"It's empty.... c-c-c-cuz of guys like you!" A man in a cheap suit said. Cloud winced, knowing what was about to come. Barret whacked the guy across the head. He looked dazed from the blow and Cloud saw the other members of AVALANCHE turn their eyes away.

_Is this what I've joined? A bunch of bullies?_

"You... You've seen the news right? AVALANCHE says there'll be more bombings!" the suited man said. "Only devoted employees like me would try to make it into work today!"

Cloud managed to restrain Barret before the man managed to put a bullet in the man's head, but only just. The man paled and Cloud dragged Barret away and forced him to sit down. Tifa walked up to him.

"Barret! Behave yourself!" she scolded. Barret cleared his throat and looked away, staring moodily out of the train window. Elfé glanced up from where she was sat and then nodded to Cloud, holding out the sword. He moved back to her, taking it. Tifa followed him, watching warily.

"Seems like they've finished connecting the cars. We'll be moving in a minute," Tifa said. Cloud nodded as he attached the sword to the magnetic sheath on his back.

"What happens now?" Cloud asked. He hadn't been told much and he wasn't sure what the precise plan was other than 'Reactor goes boom'. Really, that was what most AVALANCHE plans seemed to add up to anyway.

"The security check-points are coming up soon. They'll ID scan all the carriages looking for fugitives. You have to carry your ID card at all times in Midgar. It's basically Shinra's way of trying to weed out terrorists and Wutaians," Elfé explained. Cloud nodded, sitting down next to her. Tifa shifted from foot to foot but remained standing. It seemed to amuse Elfé a little.

"Fake ID cards don't work any more so we're going to have to jump the train before we get to a checkpoint," Tifa explained. Cloud nodded. He'd expected something like this when he'd seen that Biggs was clutching a crash helmet in his hand.

"We should have three minutes before we need to get off the train..." Elfé mused, glancing at her watch. Tifa nodded and began to bounce on her feet a little.

"And when we do-" Cloud stopped when an alarm went off and red lights began to flash on the train. He stared around him blankly, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Shit! They must have moved the checkpoints after yesterday's bombing!" Tifa shouted over the alarm. Cloud growled in his throat.

_You mean they didn't check for changes before they embarked on this mission? What the hell Tifa?! I thought you were more organised than that?!_

"Why wasn't it checked before we left?" Elfé shouted back. Cloud felt his respect for Elfé increasing. She was definitely much more suited to be leader than Barret was.

"Type A Security Alert! Unidentified passengers found! A search of all cars will be conducted. I repeat..."

Cloud noticed that Barret was rounding up all the other AVALANCHE members. Elfé and Tifa seemed calm, but the others were starting to panic. Barret himself was a little wild eyed as he tried to think of what to do. Cloud hissed between his teeth and glanced at Elfé.

"How do these scans work?" he asked. Elfé blinked at him.

"They'll scan each car one by one and then send Shinra guards in to arrest the people who they catch," she said. He nodded.

"From the front of the back?" he asked, grimacing as the alarm began to grow louder.

"Back," Tifa replied with certainty. Cloud nodded.

"We just keep ahead of the scan until it's time to jump train then," he said, before running to the front of the carriage. "Everyone, follow me!"

He didn't wait, instead running into the next car.

*

"Shit! You're crazy!" Barret yelled as they all lay by the side of the train tracks, breathless. Cloud shook his head, just glad that he hadn't jumped out into a pile of electrics or something else as fatal. Tifa and Elfé were slightly more beat up and the ex-leader was patching up a cut on Tifa's forehead.

"Yeah yeah, big guy. At least we're not too far from where we're supposed to be. Will the plan work without the others?" he asked, sitting up and trying to ignore a pain shooting down his side. Barret nodded.

"Yeah. Kunsel is meant to meet us somewhere around here," he said. Cloud felt something weird in his gut at the mention of the man's name. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to squirm and hide but he was sure that it was just something that would pass in time.

"Let's get moving then," Cloud said, getting to his feet. Tifa and Elfé followed. Barret lay there for a few moments more panting. The guy was the biggest of all of them and had fallen the hardest. Cloud really had no time for sympathy though. He nudged the man with his foot.

"Are you going to get up, Mr Leader, or are we going to wait for Shinra to search the train tracks for us?" he asked. Barret grumbled and got to his feet, ignoring Tifa and Elfé's smiles as he began to amble down the tracks. Cloud shook his head and followed, stretching out his injured side as he walked.

Eventually they came across a set of lasers. It was another security gate, and not one they could get passed. Cloud raised an eyebrow. He guessed they probably had been meant to jump off at the _other_ side of those beams. He began to look for a way to switch them off when his eyes came across a grate. He walked over to it and began to loosen it. From the smell rising through it, it definitely led to the reactor.

"We can use this," Cloud said. Elfé leaned over his shoulder and inspected it before nodding.

"Yeah. That'll do all right. There aren't any obstructions and that smell is definitely mako," she said. Barret was looking at it sceptically.

"Am I meant to fit?" he asked. Cloud began to snicker.

"Well, we'll give you a good push if you get stuck," he replied. Barret began to swear at him and Tifa rubbed her temples tiredly.

*

Kunsel was tapping his foot against the metal of the walkway. He slid his hands over the handle of his sword as he waited. They were late. He'd known they were going to be. He had received a message from Jessie moments before explaining the situation to him. There had been an ex-Shinra man with them, and Jessie had managed to pull his old ID from the Shinra database. Naturally, his ID had set off the sensors. All ex-Shinra personnel were blacklisted almost on principle after all.

Kunsel sighed. They'd have been better off leaving the man on the train to face the music. He heard a clunk and then some pretty loud swearing in a thick Corel accent. He sighed again. That would be Barret.

"I'll fucking shoot you if you touch me again, Short-stuff," Barret was raging. Kunsel remained where he was. Moving would only startle them and he didn't want to end up shot in the foot like last time.

"It's not my fault that you were too fat to fit down the chute," a voice replied. Kunsel frowned, something in the back of his memory flaring at the sound of that voice. He squinted into the darkness of the storeroom waiting for Barret and the others to arrive.

Tifa came first, her cheeks a little pink. She was adjusting her clothes and she waved when she saw Kunsel, glancing over her shoulder as Barret hulked around a box, dark eyes glaring daggers at whoever was behind them.

Kunsel saw the glowing eyes through the gloom first. Bright mako blue that definitely identified the man as ex-SOLDIER. He then took in a few other things. The stride, the stature, the Buster Sword. For a moment Kunsel's heart leapt into his mouth.

_Zack!_

But then he looked again. As the SOLDIER's face came into view he realised he'd made a mistake. Blond spikes and paler skin, a less pointed face and a slightly more innocent expression.

_Cloud...?_

He stared at the Turk. Cloud had been announced dead five years ago on the same mission as Zack. Kunsel had always thought that if he was going to find them, he'd find them together. Now as he stared at Cloud's face, saw the strange way he teased Barret that was more like Zack than ever, and Angeal's Buster Sword attached to his back.

"Strife? It's Cloud Strife isn't it?" he asked, stepping forward. Cloud stopped what he was doing and turned. For a moment his expression blanked and Kunsel was reminded of the same dead eyes that he'd seen when Cloud had been in Gongaga. There was something else to this though and he saw Tifa chew her lip worriedly.

"Kunsel, right?" Cloud suddenly snapped out of it and reached forward to shake his hand. Kunsel shook it bewildered, his eyes straying to the scars on Cloud's wrists.

"I thought you were dead," Kunsel said, watching as something uncertain flickered in Cloud's eyes.

"Ah, well, I just had some business to take care of after Nibelheim," he said. Kunsel's brow furrowed.

"Was Zack with you?" he asked. Cloud's eyes took on the same blank, glazed quality as before and Kunsel wondered what on earth was wrong with him? Was he suffering from mako poisoning? It was the only reason Kunsel could think that Cloud would be standing before him with mako eyes after the SOLDIER program had been completely destroyed.

"Kunsel. I need to talk to you," Tifa said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from Cloud and Barret. The moment Tifa spoke Cloud seemed to snap out of whatever was wrong with him and he began to go over the plan again with Barret, his voice stern as he tried to wring every last detail out of the man.

"What the hell is going on with him, Tifa?" Kunsel asked, glancing at the blond. "Why in Gaia's name is he in a First uniform? Where did you find him? Was Zack with him?"

Tifa's troubled eyes looked a murky brown in the light and she looked down at her shoes. "Cloud... Cloud just turned up one day. The mako poisoning is so bad that he forgot who he was. The healer woman we used... she said that Cloud had taken on Zack's persona. I... I don't know if it's just pure insanity that caused that or mako poisoning. It's difficult to get an answer from him. You've seen how he just blanks anything that doesn't fit his version of the 'past'."

Kunsel scowled over Tifa's shoulder at Cloud. The Turk was doing a pretty good impression of Zack, it had to be said, but even so, there was so much that was wrong with it. Cloud's shoulders were too tight and hunched, the innate shyness showing through where Zack had exuded pure confidence and energy. Cloud's grin didn't meet his eyes, his punches were just the wrong side of playful to convey mischief. Everything about him was off somehow. He was acting, and someone who hadn't known Zack would just assume this was who Cloud was. A slightly off-centre individual.

Kunsel remembered seeing Cloud in the hallway once after the blond had returned to Shinra. They'd all known he was up to something, but no one had ever found out what. The Turks had seemed to know, as had Sephiroth, so the SOLDIERs kept their noses out. The Cloud that Kunsel had seen that day had still been a little jumpy, but he had at least known who he was. He had the quiet confidence of someone who had been to hell and back and could straighten their spine and declare to the world that they were someone unique and special.

This Cloud was a nobody. He was a hybrid of personalities he'd admired and stuck onto a frame like papier-mache over chicken wire. Even with the best will in the world, and all the paint and glue that could be stuck to the frame that Cloud had created, he was still only a grotesque caricature of Zack.

"I joined AVALANCHE specifically to get revenge for Zack. You knew this, Tifa... Why didn't you tell me you'd found a clue as to his whereabouts?" Kunsel demanded. He wasn't sure how much use Cloud would be as a 'clue' but he was willing to try. Tifa didn't have the decency to look ashamed of herself. She just looked over at Cloud, lost.

"Aerith wants him to heal on his own. She says his soul has been torn into pieces and if we push him he'll be torn forever. You won't get your answers from him, Kunsel," she said softly. At that moment Elfé appeared around the corner and smacked Barret and Cloud around the head, ordering them to get moving. Tifa gave Kunsel a pleading look before she returned to the group.

Kunsel watched as Cloud gave her a small smile that he'd seen a hundred times before on a different face.

"It would have been better if you'd died..."

*

Getting through the reactor was easy. Cloud almost felt it was too easy. Taking out the guards with him and Kunsel there was less than a joke. His blade easily slid through the bodies of the guards. When they got to the lift though, Cloud had to admit that he felt tired, almost like the blade was too heavy for him.

"I'm taking a turn next," Elfé announced as she got into the elevator. She drew her sword, a light-weight katana. Her eyes lingered almost lovingly on the blade as she traced her thumb along the sharpness of its edge.

Cloud blinked as the blade seemed to elongate before his eyes, growing longer and longer until its tip seemed to disappear into the metal of the floor. For a moment the hilt colour changed from an indigo purple to black and Cloud caught the scene of sweat and leather. He closed his eyes, breathing in a smell that seemed strangely calming to him. When he reopened his eyes the smell was gone, as was the illusion that the lights must have played on Elfé's blade.

The doors opened and Elfé leapt out of the lift. Wet sounds followed by the odd gurgle floated into the lift. Cloud waited for Elfé to reappear. Her face was splattered by blood, her shirt sticking to her in places, but she didn't seem fazed by it at all.

"The way to the reactor is clear now. Cloud, it's all yours," she said, taking a cloth out of her pocket and wiping the blood off her sword. Cloud saw Kunsel give her a strange look, which she returned in a steely fashion, before he took off, jumping between the metal support platforms. Unlike the last reactor, Cloud didn't have Barret slowing him down and he found it much easier to get to the bottom without trouble.

Behind him he heard the others puffing and cursing as they tried to follow. Seconds after his feet touched down on the main bridge to the reactor, he heard a second set of footfalls. He turned his head slightly to see Kunsel. The other regarded him for a long moment before he nodded and averted his gaze. Cloud felt a chill go down his back. For some reason Kunsel unnerved him.

Cloud took a few steps forward to place the bomb. The whole room seemed to turn red. Something was wrong. When he turned he couldn't see Kunsel anymore. He looked down at his hands. There was blood on them... Why was there....?

_Before him there was a man... who... The Mayor of Nibelheim wasn't it? He stared as a shadowed figure that Cloud couldn't quite make out crawled towards him. The figure, whose only identifiable feature was glowing blue eyes, cradled the dead man against his chest._

"_Sephiroth... Why have you let this happen...?" Cloud heard the being say, it's voice distorted, like it was talking through heavy static. Cloud watched as the figure used the long katana buried within the Mayor's body to rise to his feet and disappear further into the reactor._

"Goddamnit, Cloud, have your freak out elsewhere, yeah?!"

Cloud blinked and realised he was lying face down on the floor. He got to his hands and knees and stood up, gripping the rail. Kunsel was glaring at him as though he'd done it on purpose and Cloud immediately felt defensive. How was he supposed to stop things like this?

"Are you alright?" Elfé had beaten Tifa and Barret down to the reactor and she did look genuinely concerned. Cloud nodded.

"I'll be fine. Just... Memories... Things that happened," he said. Kunsel's glare seemed to lessen and he took a step forward.

"Memories?" he pressed. Cloud shook his head. Steadier on his feet now, he stepped around the SOLDIER and pulled the bomb out of his backpack.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said, unsure where his reluctance came from other than the desire not to have to share the destruction of his home town where Tifa was. He didn't know how much she knew about what had occurred in Nibelheim, and didn't want to hurt her by adding to her knowledge of the event. It was bad enough that...

The bomb. He needed to concentrate on the bomb. He set it down and began the timer just as Tifa and Barret managed to climb onto the bridge. He smiled at them as he gestured for them to continue onwards. Barret grumbled but led the way out of the reactor. Elfé gave him a smile as she followed. Kunsel agreed to take the rear guard.

They got through the main control room using Cloud's security code and managed to get to exit to the reactor before Cloud realised that something was wrong. He skidded to a halt, feeling Tifa run into the back of him as he stared at the guards that had effectively cut off every exit. He tightned his grip on his sword.

"Thought it was too easy," Kunsel said. Cloud glanced at him. The other looked grim though as he assessed the situation. Cloud just made sure that Tifa was protected between him and Elfé to his other side. The ex-leader seemed to read his mind and she moved over so that her body was placed directly between Tifa and the nearest Shinra guard.

"President Shinra?!"

Cloud glanced up at Barret's exclamation. Walking from the reactor was the fat, moustached man that Cloud recognised as the richest man in the world. His cold blue eyes regarded them all with disdain as he paused on the bridge, his hands in his pockets. His gaze was focused on Cloud.

"Why is the President here?" Tifa whispered to Elfé who just shook her head.

"Hm... So you must be that... what was it?" Shinra's voice held a tinge of Midgar twang to it that Cloud wouldn't have associated with such a well-kept man.

"AVALANCHE and don' ya forget it!" Barret shouted. Cloud winced and he saw Kunsel raise his blade higher as a guard took a step forward as though to attack Barret for his insolence.

"Long time no see, President," Cloud said, taking a few steps forward. He knew he had to draw some of the attention to himself and away from the others. Barret didn't know when it was best to keep his mouth _shut_ and although Cloud respected the other's fighting abilities, he could tell when he was outnumbered.

"Long time no see...?" Shinra repeated, his mouth tilting up into a cruel smirk. "Oh it's you. You'll have to tell me your name. You see, I've already forgotten you. I seemed to have raised a number of traitorous bastards in my ranks, you see."

Cloud frowned. "It's Cloud Strife. SOLDIER First Class."

"SOLDIER? You?" The President seemed to find this amusing. "Ah, of course, it's probably just as well that you're a little touched in the head. With everything you had to do with Sephiroth... It's a shame a little bit of the greatness didn't rub off on you. Hojo would have been proud."

Cloud took a few steps back, pressure beginning to build up behind his eyes as he tried to ignore the sudden nervousness in his gut.

"I don' give a damn 'bout none o' that!" Barret pushed Cloud to one side. The blond staggered a little, gripping the railing and trying to make sense of the President's words.

_Hojo? Who was Hojo? Sephiroth... I was a war buddy... A friend... Traitor...? What...?_

"This place is going up wi' a-"

"Barret! No!" Elfé tried to interrupt.

"-big bang soon! So it'll serve y'all right!" Barret finished his sentence regardless. Cloud straightened, wondering if they really were going to have to fight their way out of this now.

"And such a waste of good fireworks to get rid of vermin like you... Then again, it wouldn't be the first time I've tried to kill some of you, would it Strife?" The President asked. Cloud just shook his head, bewildered.

"Vermin?! That's all you can call us?! _Vermin_? Y'all Shinra're the vermin! Killin' the Planet! So that makes you King of the Vermin, ya jackass!" Barret began to rage. Cloud shook his head, noticing that the grunts around them had taken the safety off their guns.

"Just shut the fuck up Barret!" Elfé shouted at him, grabbing him by the string vest and pulling him back.

"I'd listen to the lovely lady, if I were you. Alas, I'm a very busy man, so you'll have to excuse me. I have a dinner to attend with a very beautiful lady and I'm sure she's been _dying_ to see me since our last meeting," Shinra said and at that moment a helicopter descended from above the reactor. Cloud covered his face to stop the wind getting into his eyes as Shinra disappeared into the helicopter.

"What's that noise?" Tifa asked suddenly. Kunsel was edging away from the centre of the bridge and was looking around him warily. Elfé grabbed Tifa's hand and pushed her to the side just in time for a large robot to zoom past them, knocking Kunsel off his feet and causing him to have to grab the rail so that he didn't plummet down into the Slums below.

"Robo-guard!" Cloud shouted and quickly raised the Buster Sword ready for battle. The grunts disappeared, obviously believing that the robo-guard would get the job done on it's own. Cloud had to agree with them. If he wasn't so confident that he and Kunsel were good SOLDIERs he would have doubted their ability to survive this.

"Use materia!" Kunsel shouted. Cloud blinked at him, wondering why the other wasn't just hacking at it with his sword. "Everyone use materia apart from Barret. Barret aim for the fuel tank or battery!"

Cloud felt as though his feet were glued to the floor. Kunsel had assessed the situation and worked out a strategy just like that...? Cloud looked at the weapon in his hands... It would have been blunted, no doubt, straight away... What was wrong with him? Why hadn't he considered materia...?

"That's the way! Tifa, use a Fire materia now to set light to the fuel!" Kunsel encouraged. Cloud watched as, suddenly in slow motion, Tifa used the fire materia and the fuel caught light. The fire spread and he realised that he was the only person close enough to the robot to be caught in the blast.

"Cloud!" Kunsel shouted in warning but it was too late. The explosion knocked him clear over the edge of the bridge and as he hurtled to the ground below, Cloud found himself praying.

_Oh Planet please don't let this be the end..._


	4. Interlude One: The Case of the Well

**Title: **_Scars of Friendship_  
**Chapter**: 2.5/??  
**Comments**: Interludes are chapters or scenes that are short, and just offer insight, but no advancement of the plot itself. They are often of non-insane Cloud POV, so Cloud doesn't remember these events clearly. For example, it's obvious in the previous chapter that he's forgotten his crush on Sephiroth etc.

**Interlude: Case of the Well**

Cloud waited on the well. He felt nervous. Really, really nervous. He'd never told a girl he liked them before, but he was determined to tell Tifa today. It was the right thing to do. Besides, his ma would be upset if he told her who he really liked. He was sure that she wouldn't want her teenage son to want to admit to wanking over General Sephiroth's pictures. It would be acceptable to do it over Tifa's boobs though.

Probably.

And he could admire Tifa's curves the same as the next man. He just didn't find them all that appealing when he could stare at the sheer raw power in Sephiroth's every movement. He guessed he was probably gay... Or at least bisexual. He'd heard that term on the TV once, but he still wasn't quite sure what it meant.

He supposed he was a little naïve.

_I'm cold..._

"Sorry I'm late."

He nearly jumped out of his skin. Tifa was there, wearing a cute outfit that Cloud hadn't seen before. Had she worn her best just to come out and see him? He felt the butterflies increase in his stomach. There was no way that Tifa would like him. She'd just laugh or something.

"You said you wanted to talk to me about something?" she prompted when Cloud just stared at her. He blushed and looked down at his feet. She sat down, hanging her legs over the edge of the well.

"Come this spring... I'm leaving this town. I'm going to Midgar," he said nervously. Tifa didn't seem too shocked.

"All the boys are leaving our town," she said, sounding weirdly nostalgic. Cloud bit his lip. Of course. Tifa's on-off boyfriend Johnny was leaving too, wasn't he? He felt like such an ass for even thinking about trying to convince her to be his girl before he left.

"But I'm different from them. I'm not just going to find work," Cloud heard himself protesting and he could have smacked himself. _Way to go to sound like a complete prick._

"I want to join SOLDIER. I'm going to be the best. Just like General Sephiroth," he announced. Somehow, when said aloud, it just didn't seem as likely as it did in his fantasies.

"Sephiroth... the Demon of Wutai..." she mused. Cloud glanced down at her, wondering what she was thinking.

"Is it hard to join SOLDIER?" she asked. Cloud thought about it.

"I won't be coming home for a while. You'll promise to look in on Ma for me? She doesn't know I'm going," he said. Tifa's eyes narrowed.

"You're running away?" she asked. Cloud shook his head.

"No," he lied. Tifa rolled her eyes and nodded.

"I'll look in on her so long as you promise you'll write to her," she said. Cloud grinned.

"Don't worry. If I do well I'll be in the papers!" he said. Tifa seemed unable to share his enthusiasm. For a long moment there was silence and Cloud wondered if she felt awkward that he was unloading all this onto her. She leaned back then, tilting her face up to look at him.

"Promise me. Promise me that if I'm ever in trouble, you'll come save me," she said. Cloud just stared down at her blankly. Her face turned pink.

"Sorry. It's just a dream of mine that... if I'm ever in trouble, a hero will come and save me... Well, there's no one else who'll make SOLDIER in the village, so you're just going to have to do," she said. Cloud found himself nodding.

"Okay... I promise..."


	5. TwentyThree Tiny Wishes

**Title: **_Scars of Friendship_  
**Chapter**: 3/50  
**Comments**: Thank you for your response! I wonder if many of you have picked up on certain things yet?

**Chapter Three:**

**Twenty-Three Tiny Wishes**

Aerith had been unable to feel Zack for over five years. The presence that the Planet would so readily show her before had disappeared, lost in the ether of the Lifestream. Sometimes, late at night when the louts were aiming firecrackers at the windows of her house or the Turks were being particularly forceful, Aerith would try to follow that link that no longer existed.

And always the Planet gently moved her away.

Until recently it had done that with Cloud too. Wherever Cloud had been he'd been considered worse than dead to the Planet and Aerith was glad to have been shielded, even if only a little. Meeting Cloud again, feeling the roiling mess that he'd become, Aerith wasn't sure if she wanted Zack to be alive or dead.

When something came hurtling through the roof of the Church, Aerith had been struck by deja-vu almost immediately. When she saw who it was she became even more unsettled. She'd avoided any further contact with Cloud since he had returned from wherever he'd been. Watching him impersonate Zack was almost too much to bear. To have fate throw him through the roof of her Church as well...

She knelt down at his side and smoothed the blond hair away from his face.

"...Cloud?"

*

Cloud felt like he was floating. There was nothing around him. He then felt something light brush across his face. He opened his eyes. Through the darkness there was a ghostly figure.

"..._You all right? Can you hear me?" _the figure asked. Cloud squinted. He could make out glowing blue eyes and dark hair. The face was moving in and out of focus though.

"Yeah..." Cloud replied, trying to figure out who this person was. He seemed familiar somehow.

"_Back then, you could get by with just skinned knees..." _The man smiled and tapped Cloud on the nose.

"What do you mean by 'back then'?" Cloud questioned. The man's eyes shadowed and he looked like he wanted to ask more questions. Instead he seemed to look beyond Cloud and then shake his head.

"_What about now? Can you get up?"_ he asked, standing and offering a hand down to Cloud. Cloud didn't take it though, remaining on his back staring up at the man's face who seemed so familiar...

"What do you mean about 'that time'? What about now?" he asked persistently. The man smiled and shook his head once more, offering his hand again.

"_Don't worry about me. You just worry about yourself for now,"_ he insisted. Cloud frowned.

"I'll give it a try," he said and took the offered hand before jerking into consciousness once more. In his ears echoed the words.

"_Take it slow now... Little by little..."_

*

He could smell flowers.

Cloud blinked up at the girl who was leaning over him. He blushed when he realised that his eye line was straight at her cleavage and looked up to her face. He blinked when he realised that it was the girl from the flower market.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You fell through the roof of the Church. We're in Sector Five's slums. You gave me quite a scare, you know."

Cloud sat up and put his hand to his head, trying to ignore the pain he felt. Everything ached as the mako had forced it to heal too fast. His head felt like it had cracked open like an egg and knitted back together just as quickly.

"I came... crashing down?" he asked, looking up at the mostly missing ceiling of the church. There were numerous holes in it.

"The flowers broke your fall," she replied. Cloud looked back down and realised that had been the unique scent. He brushed a finger against a flower petal.

"The flower bed... is it yours?" he asked. He felt a twinge of something in his chest, something that made his stomach flip unpleasantly. He turned his gaze away from the flowers and back to the girl, disturbed when the feeling only increased. "Sorry about falling on them."

"It's okay. The flowers here are quite resilient. This is a sacred place, after all. There's no natural light in Midgar, so it shouldn't be possible to grow flowers or grass. Yet here they grow so strong. That's why I love it here," she said, getting to her feet and offering him a hand. Cloud hesitantly took it, being careful with his grip so he wouldn't hurt her as she pulled him to his feet.

"You look confused. Don't you remember me?" she asked, tilting her head to the side a little. Cloud wondered how best to answer. He stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, I remember you," he said. He saw her eyes light up with something and a smile tug half-heartedly at the corner of her mouth.

"You were selling flowers," he said. Her smile faltered for a moment, then returned, seeming happier than ever.

"You were in quite a daze. I'm glad you remembered me... even a little," she said. Cloud began to get the strange sense that he was supposed to have met this woman before but when he tried to remember her things went hazy. He chalked it down to her having helped him when he first came to Midgar. It had to be that.

"My name's Aerith," she offered. Cloud felt another wave of recognition wash over him but he ignored it, instead holding out his hand for her to shake. She accepted it.

"Cloud," he replied. "I'm a mercenary."

"Oh, I see," Aerith said and brushed some soil off her dress. "What kind of mercenary work do you do?"

"A bit of this, a bit of that," Cloud said with a shrug. "I don't tend to stick to one thing alone..."

Aerith nodded and began to pick dirt out from under her nails. "Say, Cloud... Would you mind staying here and talking to me for a bit? The sound of your voice it's... comforting."

Cloud nodded. He realised that he didn't want to leave her alone either.

*

"Get your hands off me you big oaf!" Herta snarled, struggling against the MPs that were dragging her out of the house. Anabel was anxiously stood to one side, her eyes wide and a handkerchief grasped tightly in her hand as she watched. Herta couldn't blame her. The woman was terrified of Shinra.

"Gentlemen, a little decorum with the lady if you please."

Herta looked up to see Rufus walking towards them. The street outside was deserted apart from Shinra personnel. There were some soldiers in high visibility jackets who were waving glow sticks around.

"What's going on Rufus?" she asked as the MPs let go of her. Rufus came to a stop beside her, scanning the sky.

"The President wants to see you," he said, sounding faintly annoyed. Herta's hands clenched into fists.

"Why?" she asked. Rufus shook his head.

"I don't know. I can't imagine it will be a pleasant call though. I hear he's coming to Junon for tonight only and tomorrow morning he's flying back first thing to Midgar. It seems a rather ridiculous journey if he's just come to check you're still in captivity," Rufus surmised. Herta saw his blue eyes narrow as they caught the red lights of the helicopter. Soon the sound of the propellers could be clearly heard over the sound of the sea.

"Will it be the first time you've seen him since you woke up?" she asked. Rufus nodded once.

With nothing left to say, Herta pulled her shawl tightly around her. Her eyes followed Rufus' gaze to the helicopter. She knew the reason the President was here. He could have ignored her existence if she hadn't woken Rufus, but now she knew that Rupert would want some kind of revenge.

She looked away as the helicopter came down to ground and her hair whipped out of the tight bun that she'd placed it in. Random wisps of hair hung down around her neck and by her face as she turned back, tilting her chin up defiantly.

President Shinra stepped from the helicopter and met her eyes straight away. He was smiling and Herta felt her mind go back to all those years ago when she'd first known him. He'd been handsome, suave and thin then. Now he was fat, he'd grown facial hair and taken to wearing gaudy suits.

The man that Herta remembered had looked much more like Rufus.

"Mrs. Strife," the President greeted her. He held out his hand but Herta refused to take it.

"You know as well as anyone alive that I was never married," she replied. Rupert seemed to become more and more amused by that.

"Indeed," he said and then turned to Rufus. He didn't offer his eldest son his hand and Herta was struck by the callousness of this man all over again.

"Why are you here, Rupert?" she snarled, ignoring Rufus' surprised look at her casual use of his father's name. Rupert shook his head.

"I'm here to review some information on the Junon Cannon. Seeing you was just an extra bonus, my dear," he said. Herta wanted to punch him.

"Unless you've come to tell me that Shinra has brought my son back to life as well as falsely rebuilt my town, I don't want to see you Rupert," she hissed. Rupert's smile widened.

"Oh my dear, such venom. I forgot what a temper you had on you," he reached forward as though to touch her face. Rufus' hand snaked forward though and grabbed his father's wrist. For a moment father and son seemed to have a battle of wills until Rupert backed off.

"Goodnight, Rupert," Herta said and turned back towards her house. She heard Rufus bid his father goodnight before he followed her inside.

"Just what game are you playing, Herta?" he demanded once they were inside and the door was shut. Herta sighed and removed her shawl.

"The only one I can."

*

Reno walked into the Church with a hint of remorse. He knew the message he had to pass on. He wasn't going to like it. He would have rather not told Aerith anything at all rather than lie to her, but Tseng had insisted.

Zack's message had to be passed on. Aerith couldn't continue to wait for him to come back to Midgar.

He saw her in the flower beds and shouldered his baton, prepared to just get it over with. When she turned, however, he saw that she wasn't alone. With dawning realisation Reno realised who he was seeing. Cloud Strife had made it to Midgar?!

Sensing him as a threat, Cloud moved towards him. Reno realised the light behind his head must have been obscuring his face so he moved closer as well.

"Yo, Cloud. Hey, Sis. Long time no see," he greeted, raising his baton in salute. The blond just continued to look at him.

"You're not holding it against me, are ya buddy? I honestly didn't know Hojo was involved in all this-" Reno noticed that Cloud's eyes were still mostly blank. "Er... Cloud?"

"This is really bad timing..." Aerith muttered. He looked at her, blinking when he saw the calculating look in her eyes.

"What's-"

"Say, Cloud? Have you ever been a bodyguard?" she interrupted him. Cloud was still staring Reno down and the Turk wasn't sure what he'd done to deserve such hostile treatment. Not unless Cloud _knew_ about Reno's involvement in Nibelheim... but that was impossible, wasn't it? Not even Zack had known the true depths of Reno's involvement in the Company.

"Yeah," Cloud replied, his eyes not leaving Reno for a second.

"Toots, what's goin' on here?" he asked. Aerith shook her head firmly.

"Get me out of here. Take me home," she said, putting her hand on Cloud's bicep. Reno felt he'd flipped into a parallel universe when Cloud seemed to lean into that touch a little. _What the fuck? Is this really Strife?_

"It'll cost you," Cloud replied. Aerith's smile was slightly forced and Reno looked between the two of them. He could see the mako burning in Cloud's eyes and he didn't particularly want to get the shit kicked out of him. If Hojo had made Cloud even half as strong as Zack had been in the end, there was no way that Reno could fight his way past him to pass on his message.

"One date," Aerith said. Reno's hand clenched around his baton. Oh would Zack have been pissed.

"What the fuck are you playing at, Sis?" he demanded, pointing his baton towards Aerith. Cloud stepped immediately in front of her, his gaze hardening.

"I don't know who you are but-" he began.

"You don't know who I am?" Reno spluttered. _Seriously, Strife, NO ONE forgets Reno_. Cloud seemed about to say something more but then his hand went to his head and he began to tremble. His eyes went out of focus. Reno looked over his shoulder at Aerith and the other mouthed 'sorry' at him. He looked back at Cloud.

"You're really ill, aren't ya buddy...?" Reno mumbled to himself. Cloud was completely out of it. He was making small gasps of pain as he clutched his head.

"I know you," Cloud said suddenly. Reno immediately took a step back, narrowly missing a punch that would likely have cracked his skull. "That uniform..."

Reno cursed and hit the switch on his baton. A high-pitched whining sound came to his ears and the unique smell of burning ozone drafted through the church. There was no way in hell that he was going down without a fight.

"What the fuck happened to him, Sis?" Reno yelled as he quickly side-stepped another blow. He caught Cloud with his baton but despite briefly twitching where he stood, it had no other effect on the man.

"Shut up you Shinra spy!" Cloud replied. Reno scowled. _This is a parallel universe. I'm pretty sure if I walk out of this Church I'm going to find a Midgar that's brimming with daisies and chocobos and that Rufus has turned into a Moogle dictator or something..._

"Shit, Strife, I don't want to fight you," Reno did his best to continue to dodge the blows but eventually he felt his back foot hitting against one of the pews. Distracted by the lack of space he caught a blow to the side of the head that send him sprawling across the floor, coming to rest at Aerith's feet in front of the flowerbed.

"Don't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!" _Well, gee, thanks Aerith. The flowers must be so much more important than stopping a psychotic ex-Turk from committing homicide._

He heard the sound of Strife's boots against the planks and tensed, preparing for whatever else the man decided to dish out. He opened his eyes to see the boots directly in front of his face. _I really don't need a boot to the head, Strife. I'm fucked up enough already without _more_ brain damage..._

"Cloud!" Aerith called. Strife's boots turned and walked towards the back door of the Church. Reno let his eyes close as he heard two sets of footsteps retreating behind him. Eventually there was silence, with the odd creak of the roof or a floorboard the only sound besides his breathing.

"They were... mako eyes... Zack, why the fuck did you ask me to keep Cloud's survival a freakin' secret?" he bitched, pushing himself up wearily and switching his baton off to save the battery. He ran a hand over his face.

"How the fuck do I keep this a secret from Rufus anyway? This is ridiculous man. This is fucked up. Everything's so god-damn fucked up..." he dragged himself to his feet and stood for a moment, his back to the flowers.

"I tried to pass on your message, yo. Guess that someone up there just doesn't want her to hear it right now."

*

Cloud crouched on the roof feeling a little strange. Fighting that Turk had been odd. Like fighting a brother or something. Cloud found it difficult to explain why he hadn't just finished him off, despite Aerith's urging that they get moving. He rubbed the back of his neck tiredly.

Aerith was crouched on the roof looking glum. Her green eyes were downcast and she had her arms wrapped around her knees tightly. Her skirt was tucked tightly round her thighs so Cloud couldn't see her panties, not that he was particularly keen to at the moment. He heard the Turk swearing as he left the Church and the sound of a motorcycle starting up.

"I guess they're looking for me again," Aerith commented, getting to her feet. The air of Midgar was stagnant and no breeze ruffled her hair as she stood on the roof, watching the red-haired Turk disappear into the Slum.

"You mean it's not the first time they've been after you?" Cloud asked, getting to his feet as well. Aerith turned to him and shook her head, folding her arms in front of her chest defensively.

"They're the Turks," Cloud pressed. Aerith made a non-committal noise. Cloud began to grow agitated by her determination not to tell him anything.

"The Turks are a Shinra organisation. They scout for SOLDIER candidates," he continued, watching her face for any reaction. At the word SOLDIER her eyes widened minutely, but she didn't look at him or flinch away.

"This violently? I thought they were looking for someone," she replied. Cloud frowned. Hadn't she just suggested that they were probably looking for her? Who did she think the Turks were really after?

"They're involved in a lot of dirty stuff on the side. Spying, murder, that kind of stuff," he continued. Aerith did flinch then and Cloud wondered why. Was she involved with the Turks somehow? But how? What could they possibly want with her?

"Why are they after you? Must be a reason right?" he asked. Aerith turned to face him, a smile on her face. All traces of her previous reservedness gone.

"Maybe they want me to be a SOLDIER?" she said brightly. Cloud scowled.

"The SOLDIER programme apparently stopped years ago," he replied. Aerith's smile fell a little.

"I know," she said. "I know that there aren't SOLDIERs anymore. Shinra killed them all. Wiped them all off the face of the Planet. They didn't need them anymore, did they?" Her hands were shaking and Cloud watched as she dug her hand into her pocket and drew out a grubby ribbon. It was obviously well used. It was almost identical in colour to the one in her hair, but Cloud could tell there was something special about this one.

"I don't know. I wasn't a SOLDIER during that period," Cloud replied. Aerith wrapped the ribbon slowly around her hand, the satin lying against her fingers.

"AVALANCHE, Shinra, Wutai... They're all as bad as each other. Fighting, fighting, fighting until the Planet screams from its very core," she pocketed the ribbon again and turned to Cloud, a bitter smile on her face.

"Shall we?" she asked. He remained frozen for a moment, wondering what she knew about AVALANCHE, whether she knew that he'd been a member of two of the organisations she hated so much. She jumped down from the roof onto the iron roof of the slum house next to them. Dumbly he followed.

As they moved across the rooftops Aerith grew more and more out of breath. Cloud ignored it at first, his mind still trying to puzzle out what the hell was going on with the girl, but eventually he heard her calling him to stop.

She bent over, breathing hard. He watched her for a few moments before turning away to scan the area to make sure they weren't being followed. He saw her straighten in his peripheral vision.

"Hey Cloud...?" she began but Cloud shook his head and began moving again.

Something just wasn't quite right with this girl...

*

Cloud really didn't know what to make of Aerith's house. It all at once felt comforting and disconcerting. It was almost like the flowers were watching him constantly, trying to gauge his intentions. That and Aerith's mother was looking at him like she'd seen a ghost.

"This is Cloud, my bodyguard. Cloud, this is Elmyra, my mom," Aerith introduced him. Cloud raised his hand to say hi but Elmyra turned away from him.

"Bodyguard?" Elmyra questioned and Cloud noticed a look pass between them. "What are you talking about? Isn't he-"

"Mom, he's not, okay?" Aerith interrupted. Cloud folded his arms over his chest and watched the scene unfold. He didn't know what Aerith was mixed up in, but he had enough on his plate without taking on the girl's troubles as well.

"Have you asked him about Zack?" Elmyra demanded. Cloud frowned. Who was Zack? People would mention him and go quiet in his presence. Was he meant to know him? It was getting annoying how everyone seemed obsessed with this other guy.

"Mom, just leave it, please?" Aerith begged, turning away. She began to unlace her boots. Elmyra gave her a look that could only be described as pitying as she turned away.

"You're going to have to face it sooner or later," she warned. Aerith's fingers froze against the laces of her boots but she didn't look up. Elmyra sighed and turned to Cloud.

"Thank you for walking Aerith home," she said, somewhat stiffly. She then took one long look at her daughter and walked upstairs. They were both silent for a few moments.

"Who's Zack?" Cloud asked, deciding to break the silence. Aerith pulled off her boots and Cloud watched as she wriggled her toes and went to put them by the door with a sigh.

"What are you going to do now?" she asked. Cloud dropped his arms. He guessed he probably shouldn't pry if she didn't want him to. Besides, he guessed that this Zack character probably had something to do with the Turks being interested in her.

"I've got to get back to Sector 7. Tifa owns a bar there and I need to tell her I'm okay," he said. Aerith smiled and took a few steps towards him.

"How is Tifa anyway?" she asked, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I only know her vaguely but she seemed a nice enough girl. She's your childhood friend, right?"

Cloud nodded. He wondered how Tifa and Aerith had managed to meet in a city the size of Midgar, but knew that was probably yet another question Aerith wouldn't answer. She sure was a mysterious woman. He sat down at the dining table.

"She's doing good. She got bored of bar work pretty quickly though. She's been helping me out," he said. He purposefully didn't mention AVALANCHE. It wasn't his place to out AVALANCHE members, particularly to someone who might rat them out to the Turks.

"She was very concerned about you," Aerith said, sitting down opposite him. Cloud didn't know what to reply to that. He knew he was meant to be happy about it, but he just felt a little embarrassed.

"Well, anyway, it's good she's doing okay," Aerith said. They lapsed into silence again. Cloud heard Elmyra walking about upstairs. The house was probably as old as the church, although in much better state of repair. The floorboards upstairs creaked in the same way the church's did.

"I can show you the way to Sector 7 if you like," Aerith offered. Cloud realised his eyes had closed as he listened to the sound of the floorboards and he opened them again, fixing Aerith with his gaze.

"You've got to be kidding. You're being followed by the Turks. Why would you put yourself in danger again?" Cloud asked. Aerith's eyes became distant.

"I'm used to it," she replied and Cloud leaned forward.

"Used to it how?" he demanded. Aerith shook her head and made to stand up. Cloud caught her wrist. She winced and he loosened his grip a little.

"Why are the Turks interested in you?" he asked firmly. Aerith shook her head again and Cloud could see something akin to fear in her eyes. He let go of her wrist and she brought it up to her chest, rubbing it.

"I'll take you there," she said. Feeling guilty for hurting her, even if only by accident, Cloud nodded. He put his head in his hands.

"I heard raised voices. Is everything all right down here?" Elmyra was walking down the stairs, in her hands were dirty bedsheets. Aerith dropped her hands immediately and plastered a fake smile on her face. Cloud took his head out of his hands and tried to look smart.

"I'm taking Cloud over to Sector 7," Aerith said. Elmyra shook her head.

"You might not realise it but it's after nine. You should go tomorrow now," she said, dumping the bed linen in the washing machine. Cloud looked down at the table. Would a few hours rest really make all the difference?

"I made the bed already," she said. Cloud blinked and Aerith turned bright pink. "He's going to sleep in the spare bedroom. Aerith, can you move all your things out of there? The old flower cart blocks the door."

Aerith quickly went upstairs to move whatever it was that was in the way and Cloud found himself face-to-face with Elmyra. She was watching him with a careful expression on her face.

"I don't mean to be rude Cloud but... Could you leave tonight? Without telling Aerith?" she asked. Cloud stood up and tucked the chair in.

"I... Yes I can but why?" he asked. Elmyra's mouth thinned.

"You bring up bad memories for all of us. Please just do as I ask."

Cloud was even more confused, but he nodded anyway.

*

Aerith saw Cloud to his room and then went downstairs to talk to her mother. Elmyra had been shooting Cloud distrustful looks throughout dinner and Aerith was pretty sure that her mother had been at the end of her patience. She was going to ask Cloud why he didn't remember her. She was going to ask Cloud why he thought he was Zack and Cloud would give her that blank look and get kicked out and-

"Are you okay, Aerith?" Cloud had interrupted her. She'd been forced to nod and Cloud had allowed himself to be shooed upstairs out of the way. Aerith was glad that he went without a fuss and felt his spirit quieten as he began to drift off to sleep. She rested her hand against the door for a brief moment before walking downstairs.

Elmyra had her hands on her hips, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Aerith felt the urge to apologise, but stopped herself. It wasn't _her_ fault that there was something wrong with Cloud. It wasn't _her_ fault that Zack had never come back – or at least that's what she told herself in her stronger moments. Sometimes she did wonder if Zack had run away because she'd been too clingy or come on too strong for the SOLDIER.

"Just _what_ is wrong with him?" Elmyra demanded. Aerith rubbed the back of her neck, a trait she'd picked up from Zack and never really lost.

"I don't really know. He... He went missing with Zack. Only he returned to Midgar about a month ago... You remember that night that Elfé rang here asking me to heal someone and I said that it had been impossible to heal that person?" she paused, waiting for the light of recognition in Elmyra's eyes. "That was Cloud."

"Whatever I did, I couldn't heal him. He was so severely mako poisoned that it was impossible to repair the damage. The mako just repelled every effort I made," Aerith slumped into a seat at the table and put her head in her hands.

"And then he woke up. He was... He thinks he's Zack. I don't know what happened to them both, but Cloud definitely thinks he is Zack," she said. Elmyra's gaze softened a little.

"He isn't Zack," she said softly. Aerith gave her a bitter smile.

"I know he's not. I just... I want to protect something that I'm sure Zack cared a lot about," she replied. Elmyra patted her hand gently and began to turn off the kitchen appliances.

"I don't know about you, but I'm tired. Let's go to bed, sweetheart. We'll talk more about Cloud's problems in the morning."

*

Cloud was dreaming. He was certain he was dreaming because there was that man again. His blue eyes shone out of the darkness like beacons.

"You seem pretty tired..." the man said. He smoothed Cloud's hair away from his face gently. Cloud made an alarmed noise in the back of his throat and jerked away. The man withdrew his hand, smiling sadly.

"You know... I haven't slept in a bed like this for a long time... You're at Aerith's yeah?" he asked, and seemed to be looking around. "There's something homely about it. Like your Ma's house."

Cloud saw his mother's house materialising around them. The dark-haired man had his hands in his pockets as he moved around the room, Cloud's room, and sat on the bed as though he owned it. Cloud took a step towards him but he stopped when he saw his mother enter the room. A group of shadowed people came to the door.

"Sorry-!" There was a noise like rushing wind and Cloud's vision went white for a moment. "And you're all smart too!" she said, grabbing hold of a dog's collar. Cloud went to sit by the dark-haired man, who was watching the shadow-people walk into the house.

"Come in, come in. Introductions can be done inside I'm sure..."

Cloud blinked as his mother was suddenly in a different part of the house. "So you're the one who abducted my baby and kept him in Midgar instead of settling down here and making his ma proud!"

"I never brought anyone home with me," Cloud said, frowning. His dark-haired friend just smiled.

"Don't remember huh?" he said enigmatically. Cloud turned to him and almost missed his mother's next words.

"So... tell me about what you've been getting up to in Midgar. Nothing of the sanitised crap I get in my letters mind you. I'm not stupid enough to think that you haven't sampled at least _some_ of the vices a city like that has to offer. In fact, if you _haven't_ I might have to disown you," she said, waving a cooking spoon at them. Cloud just stared at the scene before it began to dissolve in front of his eyes, the shadow people first, then his dark-haired friend, who waved goodbye sadly, and finally his surroundings.

He woke up with a start, sitting up and clutching his head that was throbbing. He hadn't meant to fall asleep and he got to his feet. There was no sun or moon to gauge the time by, but Aerith's beside clock said it was 4:47am. He rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Sector 7 is past Sector 6... I should be all right on my own," he said, even though his muscles ached with weariness. He sneaked down the corridor, being careful not to set off the floorboards and crept down the stairs. As he left the house he grimaced as he had to almost slam the door to get the latch to catch.

He made his way through the Slums, keeping his hands free at all times ready to grasp the Buster Sword. He carefully avoided the drunk and the mako-high and felt very accomplished until he got to the hole in the wall to Sector 6 and saw Aerith there, checking her nails.

"You're up bright and early," she said. Cloud growled under his throat. He hadn't wanted to bring Aerith with him. She unnerved him.

"I didn't want to trouble you," he lied. Aerith just smiled at him and went back to inspecting her nails.

"I'll be no trouble. I'm tougher than I look," she replied with a smile that looked too old for her face. "You have to go through Sector 6 to get to Seventh Heaven. I'll go with you. It's been a while since I saw Tifa and the others," she said, dropping her hand and walking confidently through the hole. Cloud sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"This isn't going to plan."

*

Cloud stopped at the playground and stared at the weirdly designed slide. It looked like an overweight moogle had been smooshed into the ground. He turned to Aerith to see she had a rather nostalgic look on her face. It must have been her childhood playground.

"I guess this is goodbye," Cloud said, trying not to sound too happy about it. Aerith's eyes crinkled at the corners.

"I was planning to go in with you," she said. Cloud shook his head.

"It's dangerous right now," he said softly. "Some... things have happened. It would be best if you didn't associate with any of us for a while. Until things quieten down."

"You mean with AVALANCHE?" she asked. Cloud decided not to answer. She seemed to accept this and climbed up the slide, sitting on top of it and drawing her knees up to her chest.

"I can't believe that this is still here," she said wistfully, resting her palm against the dirty plastic. Cloud looked at it. It sure was ugly. Someone had drawn a cock on the side of it. It was obviously the drawing of someone who didn't understand what a real erection looked like though. Cloud looked away.

"My first boyfriend was a SOLDIER. His name was Zack," she said softly. Cloud's ear's pricked up at that. This Zack... He was a SOLDIER. "Did you know him?"

Cloud scowled, trying to dredge up a face from his memory. Nothing came. Not even a flicker of recognition. "SOLDIER is a pretty small group but... I don't know him."

Aerith was smiling and she looked up at the Plate. "No. I guess you don't."

Cloud didn't know what that was supposed to mean. He looked up at her, trying to work out her expression, but realised it was too complex. _She_ was too complex. He didn't understand her. She seemed to know more than she could express and she didn't seem to want to even try.

The gate to Sector 7 opened and Aerith's attention was stolen by the wark of a chocobo. Cloud allowed his gaze to wander towards the gate and he stared. A chocobo and cart was being pulled through the gate, but on the back of it, dressed in a gaudy purple minidress, was Tifa.

"Tifa?!" he took a few steps away from the slide, his arms hanging limply by his sides. The cart turned the corner and went out of sight amidst the junk.

"She looked upset about something," Aerith said, sliding down from the top of the squashed moogle thing. She stared at the space where the cart had disappeared for a moment before turning to Cloud.

"Let's go," she said, starting to run towards where the cart had disappeared. Cloud followed her.

"Are you sure? I can take you home first-" he began. Aerith scowled at him over her shoulder.

"I'm coming with you, Cloud. I might be _only_ a girl, but I can still help," she said firmly. Cloud looked into her fierce eyes and nodded. Aerith smiled and looked back to where she was going.

"This way is the direction of Wall Market. Let's go!"

*

Reeve stared at the CCTV footage. One minute it was fine, the next minute it was overtaken by static and then went completely black. After a few moments it returned to normal.

"What do you think it is sir?" the guard in charge of the Shinra Sector 5 CCTV rooms asked.

Reeve had no answer to give him.


	6. Miss Aerith, Miss Tifa, Miss Elfé and

**Title: **_Scars of Friendship_  
**Chapter**: 4/50  
**Comments**: Oh yeah. It's _that_ chapter. Sorry in advance to all the cross-dressing Cloud fans out there though. Cloud isn't about to get his girl panties on in this fic. Also, if you're following this fic, please, please, please review or comment. I need to know if the fic is working for you readers or if I need to change things and I will only know that if you _tell me_.

* * *

**Chapter Four:**

**Miss Aerith, Miss Tifa, Miss ****Elfé ****and Cloud

* * *

**

Cissnei stared up at the night sky. It was great to be able to see it properly. She'd never be able to return to Midgar after spending the last month lounging beneath the sky like this. Just as well that she never intended to return.

He last-minute husband was decorating their rented property. They'd got it at a discount because it had needed a lot of work doing on it. At the time they hadn't cared so long as they had a roof over their head, but now they were tired of the drains blocking up, the paint peeling off the walls and the smell of damp that permeated the air.

Now the smell of fresh paint, new carpets and plaster dust filled the air instead. They weren't unpleasant smells, but they gave her a headache after a while and she had to get outside.

There was also a building pressure within her. Every night she spent in the same bed as him, and every day they spent trying to work out what they could do for the rest of their lives. They couldn't live off Cissnei's savings forever. They were going to live together, spend the rest of their time together... But they hadn't had sex yet.

It was understandable. They hadn't been together before this debacle and they weren't exactly in love now. Sure, Cissnei fancied him, daydreamed about him, but that's all there was to it. It had all been too soon. It was all still a daydream.

But sometimes she could feel that urge, that desire, to make this face of a marriage real. Sometimes, when she lay next to his warm body, she got the urge to roll over and touch him, to see how he responded. To watch as he shivered from her touch and his eyes turned to her in adoration...

Those were still just daydreams however.

There was no way her husband would ever think of her that way.

* * *

Cloud felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him when he stepped into Wall Market. He wasn't really sure why though. He stared around him and tried to shake off the feeling. He hadn't particularly spent much time here while he was in SOLDIER, it was hardly a reputable area, so why did he feel so familiar?

"God this place is so creepy," Aerith said, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around as well. "Let's find Tifa fast and get out of here."

Cloud could at least agree with that, but when he looked around he hadn't got a clue where to start. Why would Tifa be in a place like this? He felt at a complete loss. Aerith turned to him, quirking an eyebrow.

"Well, don't just stand there! Come on, move it!" She walked behind him and gave him a push. Cloud staggered forward and turned round, scowling at her.

"Where exactly am I meant to 'move it' to? Have _you_ got any ideas where to start?" he demanded. Aerith thought about it for a few moments.

"The only clue we have was that Tifa wasn't wearing very much," she pointed out. Cloud didn't think that was a very good observation. Tifa was _never_ wearing very much. "So she obviously wasn't coming here just to shop."

Cloud's brain began to work furiously at that. If she wasn't coming here to use any of the stores, she was here for a different reason. There were only a few businesses in Wall Market that you would need to wear special clothes to enter. She could be going on a date in the restaurant, but then why would she pick Wall Market for that? She could be meeting someone in the inn, but yet again, Seventh Heaven was much more useful for that kind of thing. He clenched his fists.

"Let's check out the Honey Bee," he suggested. Aerith smiled and nodded.

"Worked it out huh?" she asked and fell into step with him. Cloud wasn't sure what to make of it all. The thought of Tifa in the Honey Bee made his blood run cold and boil at the same time. He found his hand twitching towards his belt, but he didn't have anything there that he could use.

The garish neon lights of the Honey Bee Inn loomed in front of them and Cloud grimaced. Outside men were hanging around with hazy expressions. Some were drugged or drunk, some were just staring at the building as though it were some kind of temple. He side stepped some of them and made sure that he was close enough to Aerith to protect her if any of them got any ideas.

The doorman was a fat man who was grinning at him sleazily. Cloud gave him the best glare he could but the man seemed completely unfazed. Beside him he caught Aerith shifting her weight uneasily as the man's greasy gaze settled on her.

"Welcome to the Honey Bee Inn! Whether you're looking to put some fun back into your love life or looking for that special lady separately, tonight you'll meet your destiny under our roof!" the man said in a way that made Cloud think of bad tag lines from porn films. He put his arm around Aerith's waist just in case the man decided to start touching her or something else inappropriate.

"I'm looking for a girl. Her name is Tifa," Cloud said. He felt Aerith tensing against his side and gave her a squeeze to tell her to relax. It wasn't like his hand was going to wander anywhere. He caught a whiff of flowers from her hair as she realised to play along and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Well, word gets around pretty fast, huh?" the man said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Tifa's our newest girl." Cloud felt his mouth dry up. He cleared his throat and tried not to look panicked.

"Unfortunately she's having an interview right now," the man continued, obviously not noticing the sudden tenseness in the air. Next to him he could hear Aerith's breath catching. "We usually let all the girls go for an interview at Don Corneo's before they come to work here. He's spent a lot of money with us, but now he wants to settle down and get 'married'."

Cloud scowled. "So Tifa is at this Don Corneo's place then?" he pressed. The man shrugged.

"Probably. You know, you're the second person to ask about Tifa tonight. She must be pretty popular," he said thoughtfully. "Then again with a rack like that, I'm surprised she wasn't put to work for this kind of thing sooner. She's gonna be a sweet little money maker-"

"This person-" Cloud interrupted, not interested in hearing this man's plans for selling his friend to the highest bidder. "-what did they look like."

"Oh, we know who she was. Name's Elfé. Pretty, short brown hair, wears lots of khaki," he said. Cloud breathed a sigh of relief. So Elfé was here too? He needed to find her. Perhaps together they could figure out a way to stop Tifa with... whatever it was that she was doing.

"This place used to be used as a base for AVALANCHE back when Elfé ran it but after the shoot out the management turfed them out. Damaged too much. The Red Room... they reckon it's haunted now. They reckon a Turk took about the whole organisation and that only Elfé and a few others survived," he continued but Cloud was barely listening. He loosened his hold on Aerith a little.

"Do you know where we can find her now?" he asked. The man nodded.

"Yeah. She said she was going to the Inn to get changed," he replied. Cloud nodded.

"Thanks for your help," Aerith chirped as they walked away. Cloud released her as soon as they were out of sight of the Honey Bee and put his hands in his pockets. He wasn't sure why but it had seemed very _weird_ to pretend to be Aerith's boyfriend.

"So we find Elfé and then we go into Don Corneo's mansion and rescue Tifa?" Aerith asked. Cloud paused, standing beside a _maneki-neko_ that was rocking from side to side a little from the last person who had knocked it. He put a hand out to stop it, staring down at its painted face.

"I don't think it's going to be that simple somehow. We don't know why Tifa is even here," he pointed out. "She might need to get into Don Corneo's for a reason we don't know yet. We'll talk to Elfé and then make a plan from there."

Aerith nodded, though she looked unsure. Cloud took his hand off the _maneki-neko_, watching as it began to rock again as though it had a will of its own. Back and forth, back and forth...

* * *

Elfé stared down at the dress she'd managed to retrieve from the Honey Bee Inn. One of the girls had recognised her and offered her some clothes for getting into Don Corneo's mansion. Green PVC ran over her hands and she awkwardly laid it flat against the bed. She'd been given matching long gloves and thigh high boots as well.

She really didn't want to go into the mansion looking like a cheap dominatrix, but Tifa's stupid plan was going to get them into trouble one way or another and Elfé didn't plan to sit around and wait for Shinra to get wind of everything. She had only one choice and that was to bust in and talk to Tifa herself.

Steeling herself for the inevitable she began to unbutton her blouse.

"You can't go in there!"

"Like hell we can't!"

Elfé pulled her blouse tightly around her as the door burst open and Cloud stormed in, dragging someone behind him. Elfé's first thought was to shriek at him and throw something, but she didn't let that show on her face. Instead she quirked an eyebrow and watched as understanding dawned on his face and he quickly turned around. A face peered around him. Elfé smiled when she recognised who it was and did a few buttons back up.

"Aerith!" she finished buttoning up her blouse. The Ancient rocked on her feet a little and smiled, though she glanced at Cloud worriedly. Elfé glanced at his back. Even from behind she could tell he wasn't so hot right now. His shoulders were tense and his fists were clenched tightly against the sides of his legs.

"So you made it through alive huh?" Elfé asked. Cloud didn't turn but he did rest a hand on his hip. Elfé noticed Aerith flinch and look away.

"I was careless. It won't happen again," he replied. Elfé didn't say anything in response. Truly, there was no point in calling him on his lack of SOLDIER-level abilities. He'd just get that blank look in his eyes and they'd lose him for a few moments while his brain wiped clean any memory that Elfé had managed to call forward.

"Why are you here? And with Aerith tagging along at that?" Elfé decided to ask, sitting on the bed and pushing the PVC monstrosity to one side. Aerith moved to sit next to her.

"I found Cloud when he fell from the Plate," she explained, tucking a curl behind her ear. "I agreed to show him the way back to Sector 7 and we so happened to see Tifa heading this way..."

Elfé wanted to pummel Cloud for letting Aerith come to a place like this. She looked at his back and then sighed. The crime was done now, she supposed, they'd just have to muddle through as best they could.

"Don Corneo accepts three women every night to his bedchamber. Of those, one of them gets chosen to spend the night," Elfé explained. "For some reason Tifa is trying to ensure that _she_ is chosen tonight. I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen. _No one _is going to be touching Tifa. Least of all that sleazy old man."

"Got something to own up to, Elfé?" Cloud asked, a hint of amusement in his voice. Elfé felt colour rising to her cheeks and she didn't meet Aerith's eyes.

"Want to know how I fuck your childhood friend that badly Strife?" she spat out, trying to get over the embarrassment of getting caught out. She could virtually see Cloud bristling.

"Like hell Tifa would touch you with a bargepole," he replied. Elfé made a disgusted noise under her breath.

"That sounds an awful lot like jealousy to me, Strife," she barked back. At that moment Aerith stood up and stood between them. Cloud was oblivious, he still had his back to them, but Elfé could see the warning in her eyes. _Yeah, yeah, don't push the mentally ill person..._

"Regardless of who Tifa wants to sleep with, we all want to help her right?" Aerith said. Elfé stared at Cloud's back that was emitting petulence in waves. She was pretty sure she hadn't heard the end of this.

"I can see an easy solution to this," Aerith continued, beginning to pace in front of the bed. Elfé leaned back, watching the way her skirt hitched up her legs as she walked.

"He takes three right? Well Tifa is already selected. There are two more positions open. Elfé will take one and I will take the other," Aerith reasoned, pausing in her pacing when Cloud seemed to twitch as though to turn around and then stopped himself. Aerith smiled and turned to Elfé.

"It makes sense, right Elfé?" she pressed. Elfé couldn't see any flaw in the logic of the plan apart from one obvious one.

"What if you get picked?" she asked. "Are you strong enough to haul that monster off you?"

Aerith's face became troubled as she put her fingertip to her lips. Elfé sighed. She and Tifa were pretty muscular. They were used to outrunning Shinra operatives and fighting Roboguards. Aerith wasn't. She was soft. It was a good thing. Elfé liked the feminine nature that she exuded, but it wouldn't help her fight off around twenty-five stone of quivering flab.

"Only one gets picked, right?" she said after a moment. Elfé nodded. Aerith brightened.

"Then when the other two are let go they go get Cloud from outside and he can go and save which ever one of us is in danger of becoming a bloody splat on that man's matress," she said, virtually sparkling with determination. Elfé could see so many holes in that plan that she couldn't even begin to point them out. She stared up at Aerith with a kind of affectionate exasperation.

"You're sure that you'll be able to hold off the old horny whale while we get Cloud?" she pressed. Aerith sighed.

"I'm not some virginal nun, Elfé. If I have to I can use some womanly techniques to charm his trouser snake while someone comes to cut it off," she said, without a hint of irony. Elfé couldn't help but chuckle at that because the matter-of-fact nature of what she was saying, mixed with the sexual euphemisms, was so innocent and naïve that she couldn't help but admire Aerith's spunk.

"Cloud, I'm fully dressed and have been since Aerith started talking. You don't have to face the wall anymore," Elfé said. Cloud whipped around and glared at her before going to lean against a wall, facing them.

"Am I allowed in on this girl guide's meeting?" he asked sarcastically. Elfé was a little pleased to see some of the bite back in Cloud's expression. As a Turk he'd had plenty of rough-around-the-edges snarl that had been part of her attraction to him back then. With him thinking himself to be Zack, he had lost that and to see it returning... Elfé was glad. They were going to need it to survive Wall Market.

"Feel free if you have something constructive to say," she said. Cloud glared at her, his SOLDIER blue eyes boring into her. He opened his mouth, closed it again and continued to glare.

"I assume your argument was going to be either stupid or sexist or both?" Elfé asked. Cloud's mouth thinned into a line.

"Yeah, probably best you didn't say anything," Aerith said, smiling in a way that showed that she was obviously not joking. Elfé couldn't hold back a smile.

"I don't trust either of you," Cloud said and Elfé saw the hurt flicker across Aerith's face before it was hidden behind that usual, sad, kind mask. Anger flared in her stomach and she got to her feet, stomping over to Cloud and punching him.

It didn't matter that he didn't really know what he'd done wrong. It didn't matter that it hurt her fist more than it probably hurt his face. It didn't matter that he barely staggered. The shock in those blue eyes was enough.

"I don't give a flying fuck if you trust me, Strife, but believe in _her_," she pointed behind her to where Aerith stood, rooted to the spot. "Without her you wouldn't be alive now. Without her and her stupid _boyfriend_. Whatever the fuck happened to you... It's because they were around that you're even half the man you are now-"

She shut her mouth when a harrowing scream spillowed from between his lips. His hands went up to his head and he began to shake his head from side to side. He knocked into one of the cheap chairs and sent it flying. He stumbled over the corner of the rug and fell to the ground, curling into a ball and whimpering, his face screwed up in pain, his nails digging into his scalp and dragging through his hair hard enough to draw blood.

Aerith was immediately at his side, her hands skimming over his body. Elfé knew she was trying to heal beyond the bruises and scrapes he'd just caused himself, but she also knew that Cloud was beyond Aerith's help right now. Green eyes were staring at her, accusation heavy in them.

"I didn't know he'd have some kind of fit," Elfé spat in her defence. Aerith sighed and pressed her palm to Cloud's forehead. His eyes rolled back in his head and he stilled.

"Sleep materia," she explained when Elfé gave her a questioning glance.

"While he's out we may as well not waste time," Elfé said, helping Aerith move Cloud to the bed. He was heavy and they were both red in the face once they managed to move him.

"I'll stay with him... Just go pick me up a dress... Something sassy," Aerith said, sitting on the edge of he bed and putting her hands to her cheeks.

"I have just the dress in mind."

* * *

Tifa stared around the dark cellar and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. There was all kinds of weird stuff down here. She ran her hand along the strange bench and shivered. She wanted to believe that it was a torture chamber, but she had the distinct feeling that this wasn't a torture chamber per se but some kind of sex dungeon.

"What have I let myself in for?"

* * *

Cloud rubbed at his face tiredly. He was exhausted. He couldn't remember having come up with the plan that Aerith and Elfé told him about but he apparently had. It didn't sound like one of his plans but he couldn't deny that it was one of the most sound ones.

So here he was, stood trying to look casual as Aerith and Elfé walked into the mansion. Elfé was wearing a tight, PVC gown that sucked in so much in the middle that it gave her curves she didn't really possess. Aerith was wearing a red dress that hung off her shoulders. She'd even unplaited her hair and was wearing it in a fancy up-do. Cloud had to admit that she looked absolutely amazing.

"Damn she's hot!" the doorman said, leering at Aerith. "Come in! Come in! Two super hot ladies coming through!"

Cloud wrinkled up his nose. He hated sleazebags like that. Elfé and Aerith walked past him, ignoring his obvious lechery. Aerith glanced over her shoulder at him as she stepped through the door before her attention was grabbed by something inside. Cloud watched the doors shut closed and clenched his fists. All he could do now was wait.

"Hey ladies," the receptionist said. He looked like a pimp to Aerith. There was no denying his involvement in some kind of crime circle just by the way he _dressed_. She attempted to smile charmingly. "I'll go let the Don know everyone is here. Wait here. Don't you two go anywhere now."

He wandered off upstairs and Aerith glanced at Elfé. The other woman was watching him as she pretended to check out her nails. The moment she heard the door close Elfé dropped her hand and looked at Aerith.

"C'mon let's look for Tifa," Elfé said, moving quickly and quietly up the stairs. Aerith followed, slightly less sure of herself in her high heels. She winced as the stillettos made loud clopping noises against the wooden steps. No one came out however as she made her way across the landing. Elfé was waiting for her at the other end.

"These stairs head down... I'm getting a bad feeling about this but lets have a look anyway," she suggested and began to descent down the steep stone steps. The air temperature was colder and Aerith shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. Actual flame torches burnt on the walls.

"What on Earth...?" she began and then she saw the table coming into view. She couldn't help but put her hand to her mouth to hold back a giggle.

"Is this the kind of stuff the Don's into then?" she whispered to Elfé who smirked in response and shrugged.

"Hey, whatever gets the fat guy off," she replied and they finally stepped into the main body of the room. Aerith glanced around, taking in the dusty medical equipment and obviously well used torture bench.

"Elfé?"

Aerith turned to see Tifa running towards them from where she'd been standing in the corner. Elfé put her arm around the other's shoulders to draw her into a hug. Aerith politely waited until Elfé let go of the brunette. After all, she could already sense the protectiveness coming off Elfé in waves.

"Oh Aerith! I didn't see you there!" Tifa said when she pulled away. Her cheeks were tinged rather pink. Aerith just smiled and waved her hand dismissively.

"It's fine. I'm used to being ignored in favour of hotter offers," she said with a wink. Tifa's eyes darted to Elfé then back to Aerith and her blush spread to the tips of her ears. Aerith put her hands on her hips.

"Well at least we're all together now!" she said brightly. Elfé chuckled.

"Yeah and what is one horny whale against all three of us?" she asked. Aerith nodded and reached down to adjust the straps of her shoes. She was nervous. She hadn't done things like this when Zack had been alive. Not really. There hadn't been that risk involved. She'd always thought he'd save her if things went wrong. Now...

"Where's Cloud? I thought I saw him with you," Tifa said. Aerith let her foot drop back to the floor.

"He's waiting outside. When we get the Don alone we're going to smuggle him in," Elfé explained.

"Yeah... Um, Tifa... I-I think it might be best if after all this you let Cloud rest for a while..." she said. Tifa frowned slightly.

"Why?" she asked. Aerith opened her mouth to reply when she heard footsteps from above.

"Heeeeeeey!" she heard the receptionist from before and sighed, putting on her best accommodating smile.

"It's almost time ladies. The Don is waiting! Let's go!" he said. Aerith followed him, looking at Elfé worriedly. One of them was about to be chosen by the Don. Someone was going to have to run outside to tell Cloud what was going on. Which one of them would be chosen though? Elfé looked like the Don's type, but then Tifa could be chosen easily. Aerith didn't know what she'd do if she was chosen. Bullying a man for ideas wasn't exactly her forte, for all her bravado with Cloud.

They were brought into a room that was decorated like a cheap Wutaian takeaway house. Aerith looked around her at the tacky furniture and wrinkled up her nose a little. It smelled like a cheap Wutaian takeaway house as well. The Don obviously ate in.

"Hmm... Good! Splendid!"

Aerith hadn't noticed the Don behind his overly large mahogany desk. He was leaning over it, his jowls quivering in excitement. Aerith tried to hold back a shudder of distaste as his eyes raked over her figure before moving onto Tifa. She was used to only Zack looking at her that way, and he had certainly been much more handsome and physically attractive than this blubber sack on stumps.

"Now let's see... which girl... should I choose?" he panted, walking around the desk and leaning in close to Aerith's face. She tried to look unfazed by it all but his breath stank of garlic and five spice and she found herself wrinking up her nose again. He moved on.

"This one?" he leaned forward so that his face was almost in Tifa's rack. The brunette stood tall and kept her face forward, her eyes slightly glassy but refusing to move an inch. The Don's smile grew lecherous as he moved onto Elfé and looked her up and down briefly.

"Woo-hoo. I've made up my mind! My choice for tonight is..." The Don paused, as if for a drum roll. Aerith's heart was beating so hard in her chest she could barely breathe. _Please not me. I thought I could do this but the thought of being with anyone, even in an act to get information, it's just too much... I can't... I need to be faithful to Zack's memory more than I realised..._

"This little beauty!" The Don announced, taking Tifa's hand. Tifa did an admirable job of not looking disgusted and smiled at him, sweeping her hair over her shoulder graciously and flashing a quick look at Elfé that quite clearly said _get me out of here_.

"Be nice, Don," she said though, walking to the other side of the desk and resting her hip against it.

"You can have the other ones," the Don said. Aerith's blood went cold and she looked at Elfé. The other had frozen as well, her back ramrod straight. The men licked their lips as the leered at the two of them.

"Oh shit," Elfé whispered under her breath.

* * *

Cloud saw Aerith as she stumbled from the door, her sandals clutched in her hands as she ran barefoot across the threshold. Her hair hung down around her shoulders where it had fallen out and her cheeks were high with colour. She had a large bruise forming on her cheek and Cloud let out a curse as he ran towards her.

She stopped just in front of him before launching herself at him. He held her awkwardly, realising she was trembling from head to foot. He stroked her back, letting one hand wrap firmly around her waist. He let her have a few moments before she pulled away.

"We have to go back in! Elfé and Tifa are still inside! Tifa's with the Don!" Aerith said, trying to hide her panic. Cloud felt sick to his stomach and let go of her.

"Are you okay to wait here without me?" he asked. Aerith nodded, her bottom lip trembling.

"Sorry Cloud. I just can't go back in there," she said, her hands were shaking as she folded her arms across herself defensively. Cloud shook his head and gave her another quick squeeze, pressing an impulsive kiss against her forehead before he ran towards the door.

It slammed in his face and he heard the heavy sound of a bolt sliding across the door. He banged ineffectually against the door but he couldn't get it to budge. He was tempted to take the Buster Sword and attempt to slash through it but then he stopped himself. That would damage the blade and he might need it later to fight with.

"Can't we get in?" Aerith asked, her voice wavering. Cloud looked over his shoulder at her and then shook his head.

"It'll have to be unlocked from the inside. Come on. Let's get you somewhere safe. We've just got to hope that Tifa and Elfé can look after themselves."

* * *

Elfé growled as she kicked the last moron in the face. She was lucky that they hadn't clocked on to the fact that she was clearly trained until the last minute when nearly all of them had their balls dislodged and somewhere around their navel. She left the room and paused. She knew she should head to check on Aerith but she was more worried about Tifa. The other had to deal with the Don. There was no escape for her and... Aerith had known what she was getting into.

She ran to the Don's room and through his office. In the bedroom Tifa was pressed up against the bed, her pose clearly uncomfortable. The Don was making grotesque wiggling movements that made Elfé feel ill. She growled.

"Get away from her!" she demanded. The Don turned around in time for Tifa to bring her foot into contact with his face and shove herself off the bed.

"You still don't get it Don Corneo?" Tifa asked, her gaze confident as she smirked. Elfé felt a surge of pride. Tifa was a strong girl. Strong enough that she could have handled this on her own.

"Get what?" the Don demanded. Elfé smirked and put her arm around Tifa's shoulders. The other was standing strong, the muscles of her shoulder tensed and ready for movement.

"We're asking the questions now," Elfé said trying to sound confident. _Where's Cloud? He's meant to be here! Did Aerith not escape?_

"What did your assistants find out? If you don't tell them your balls are in danger of being chopped off and force fed to you," Tifa ground out, leaning forward so her foot was on the bed in between the Don's legs. He looked down at her heeled foot and then back up at her before he swallowed.

"I'll tell you everything! Not that! Please not that!" he begged. Elfé sneered at him, folding her arms and leaning back against the wall.

"I made 'em find out where the man with the gun-arm was. But that's what I was ordered to do," Corneo said, his piggy eyes looking around him for a way out. Elfé unzipped one of her PVC boots to reveal her gunblade had been strapped along her thigh.

"By who?" she asked. Corneo was watching the blade, transfixed.

"No! If I told you that I'd be killed!" Corneo said. Elfé snorted.

"Shinra then. If you don't tell us I'll seriously rip them off and eat them," Elfé threatened, pushing up from the wall and zipping up her boot. Corneo put his hands over his crotch as though that would protect him.

"Heidegger! Heidegger the head of Public Maintenance!" he blabbed. Elfé smiled and tested her thumb on the blade. Perhaps she'd castrate him anyway?

"What is he up to? Tell us Corneo!" Tifa said, grabbing the front of the man's shirt and pulling him forward. Her foot nudged into his crotch and he squirmed.

"Shinra is trying to crush a small rebel group called AVALANCHE. Apparently the President has beef with one of the members specifically and wants to make sure that he gets the job done. He's going to break the plate support and let if fall on the sector!" Corneo said. Elfé felt her grip go slack on her gunblade as she stared at the man. Break the support? Was Shinra insane?

"They're going to wipe out Sector 7 slums?" Tifa asked, taking a few steps back. Her eyes were panicked and Elfé wanted to tell her to calm down. They had time yet to warn everyone.

"Let's go warn everyone!" Elfé said, turning her back to Don and dragging Tifa towards the door.

"W-wait a second!" the Don called after them. Elfé turned and saw the smug look on the Don's face a little too late.

"How do you think that scum like me feels when they blab on Shinra, huh?" he asked. Elfé didn't have a chance to respond before the ground opened up beneath her and her arms were flailing to grab hold of the slick surface of the tunnel down into darkness.

* * *

Reno looked up at the Plate. He'd had some good times in this Sector. Some _real_ good times. But that was coming to an end now. The order had been so specific that there was no way for him to get around it. Tseng had tried to find a way to weasel out. There wasn't one this time.

Reeve had failed to convince otherwise and the Plate had to be dropped.

He looked at the gun in his hand that he'd brought with him to stop any resistance. Tseng had forced him to take it out of protocol. He undid the safety, pointing it at the Plate and shooting towards it. It made a loud banging sound then everything was quiet again.

"This is shit," he said, dropping the gun and kicking it over the edge. He would take what was coming to him. If the residents of Sector 7 managed to overpower him and take back their Sector, who was he to deny them? If they were going to do this to Sector 5, he'd be fighting just as hard.

He looked down at the sprawl of homes, the thousands of people who wouldn't wake up tomorrow.

"My job _sucks_."


	7. Interlude Two: Nibel Stew

**Title: **_Scars of Friendship_  
**Chapter**: 4.5/50  
**Comments**: Interlude. Sorry it's not a 'real' chapter but hopefully the subject matter will make up for it.

**Interlude: Nibel Stew**

"Ah! No! Um... Not like that!" Cloud flustered, quickly putting his hand on Sephiroth's arm to prevent the further massacre of the poor unsuspecting vegetables. He had forgotten that Sephiroth had no idea about cooking _whatsoever_ and would need more guidance than 'chop these for me'.

Sephiroth looked down at him with a small smile. The smile that said 'sorry I'm such a dork when it comes to these things'. Well, to _Cloud_ it said that. To everyone else it would have looked like Sephiroth's ordinary face, just perhaps a little bit less strained.

"I don't need these to be sliced so thinly. It should be haphazard and rough. Big chunks," Cloud explained, showing Sephiroth by cutting up some carrots quickly and roughly. Sephiroth nodded.

"You're being too methodical. Haven't you ever cooked before?" Cloud asked, scooping the carrot slices away from Sephiroth who began to cut the rest with a determined expression on his face.

"Not... stew. The food I cook tends to be more... precise..." he replied. Cloud thought about that. He remembered checking Sephiroth's pantry and cookery books when he'd first moved in. There had been a lot of books on haute cuisine that looked like they'd never been opened, and then one book that had clearly been leafed through a lot, dog-eared as it was. It had read simply, rather like a children's recipe book, and definitely gave precise instructions.

"Stew is something you cook by instinct. You throw everything into a big pot. Whatever you feel like eating at the time and then just leave it until everything is cooked. It's not a science," he said. Sephiroth looked down at his chopped carrots.

"It's a real mother's meal," Cloud continued, stirring the stock and prodding the raw vegetables in it to get them to settle. He was aware that the sound of the knife hitting the chopping board had stopped. He glanced over his shoulder.

Sephiroth was still staring down at the carrots. His knife was paused just above the vegetable and he was staring at it intently. Cloud put down the wooden spoon and walked toward him, gently taking his arm. Sephiroth didn't look up.

"I have never had a meal cooked by a 'mother' Cloud," Sephiroth said slowly. "Perhaps that is why I don't get this way of cooking."

Cloud remained silent for a long time. He found himself staring down at the carrots as well. Something as simple as helping a parent prepare a meal... Sephiroth hadn't experienced it. Wouldn't experience it.

"Sephiroth..." Cloud began but Sephiroth lowered the knife.

"Perhaps you should call me when it's ready," the SOLDIER said and Cloud watched him stalk out of the kitchen. He sighed, picking up the knife and placing it in the sick.

"Let's order takeout!"


	8. Reno's Greatest Sin

**Title: **_Scars of Friendship_  
**Chapter**: 5/50  
**Comments**: Yeah, the world ate my life. You can read about that here: grownupneko(dot)livejournal(dot)com(slash)54204(dot)html. This chapter was fuelled by cigarettes and chocolate. Not a happy chapter. Short too.

* * *

**Chapter Five:**

**Reno's Greatest Sin**

**

* * *

**

"I can't do this..." one man said, his hands shaking on the keyboard of his computer. Reeve glanced at him. _No... You probably can't, but you will have to_.

"It's the Turks job to do the dirty deed. You just have to sit back and watch it happen," he said, wondering if that was really much reassurance. It wasn't, not really. Reeve's own hands were clammy. He'd been sick twice in the bathroom in the last hour. What the President was suggesting... It wasn't human. No human could propose a measure likethis.

"Why are we doing this?" another asked. Reeve swallowed, another wave of nausea rising in his throat.

"The President has ordered it," he replied. There was silence for a long moment.

"But why?"

Reeve wished he knew. He'd asked, but vague answers came from the President. He seemed determined to squash AVALANCHE, perhaps even more so since Rufus had woken out in Junon. Not that the other was much of a threat. Waking from a coma tended to leave one rather weak.

But the President seemed to think it was _vital_ that AVALANCHE be extinguished, once and for all. Perhaps it was the reactor explosions? They had been rather large. It would seem like a response to that, if anyone ever found out the truth...

"He mentioned wanting to kill a specific member during the briefing," the first man said, so quietly that it seemed he didn't want to be heard. Reeve folded his arms. He was going to have to grab the waste bin in a minute. He could feel his throat tightening.

"Who on Gaia could put the fear of the Promised Land into Rufus Shinra though?" mused the second. Reeve inched towards the bin.

As he wretched dryly into it he thought to himself: _Yes, who indeed..._

_

* * *

_

Elfé wrinkled her nose up. At least the PVC didn't allow the grime to stick to it the way that Tifa's dress soaked up the crud. She climbed up the ladder, trying not to breathe in too much. The monster had been expected, the wave of sewage that followed it, not so much. She held out a hand to Tifa to help her to the top and they sat there for a moment, panting.

"Where was Cloud?" Tifa asked, looking up at the trap door they'd fallen through.

"I can only hope he saved Aerith and ran for it," Elfé replied. Tifa nodded, but her red eyes were still troubled. _Adventuring with Tifa all alone... but this is hardly the romantic ideal... Why do I always get myself into these situations?_

"Tifa... We should keep moving. We have to warn the others about the Plate," she said, standing up and brushing herself off. Tifa got to her feet as well, stretching out her shoulders.

"There's bound to be monsters under here. We'd better be careful," she said, wringing the sewage from her hair with a grimace. Elfé nodded, drawing her blade carefully. She guessed she was lucky that her 'Mistress' garb had allowed her to smuggle it in in the first place. She promised herself she'd clean it so well it sparkled like a mirror once they were out of this place.

"Let's move out," Elfé said, starting to jog down the side of the sewer in search of a ladder to the surface. Tifa followed her, matching her pace. She'd broken off her heels to be able to run better, Elfé noticed. A shame, they'd been nice shoes.

"Do you think... Cloud and Aerith will get together?" Tifa asked after they'd been travelling through the dank, dark for a while. Elfé didn't stop running, though she did glance at Tifa. Was the other... infatuated with Cloud? It had been insinuated more than once that they were childhood friends and...

"I think Aerith has a ghost that won't let her... and I think Cloud is far from being well enough to make those kinds of commitments," she said. Tifa was watching where she put her feet as she ran, so it was hard to see if Elfé's comment had affected her.

"I hope... I hope we find a lead on Zack soon. To put that ghost to rest for her. Kunsel too," Tifa continued. She was slightly out of breath now, sweat appearing on her neck and legs. Elfé did her best not to look at the girl's chest as she ran.

"Was Kunsel... involved with Zack?" Elfé asked. Tifa did look up then and shook her head.

"From what I can gather, Zack was a ladykiller. I don't think that he was interested in men too," she said before looking away to scout for another ladder.

"That doesn't answer the question for Kunsel though. He could have been very interested in Zack. It would explain the obsession with trying to find him," she said. Tifa had begun climbing a ladder and Elfé followed after her. With her nose so close to Tifa's bare legs she could smell the disgusting stuff they'd waded through even more strongly.

"I think... he's guilty. Guilty he couldn't save Cloud. Then guilty he couldn't save Zack either," Tifa pushed hard at the cover above her head. It eventually gave, letting fresh air onto their faces. Elfé sighed in relief and followed Tifa up.

They were in the train graveyard. Elfé recognised it immediately. She gestured for Tifa to follow her. She knew this area. They'd be able to get to the Plate in time for sure.

"Guilt... There's plenty of that going around these days."

* * *

Cloud grit his teeth. This was no good.

"Fall back! You have to fall back!" he yelled. Behind him Aerith was healing Biggs. Further on up he could hear Barret still firing away, wasting his ammo. He ground his teeth as he imagined how much damage to the structure Barret was doing on his own.

"We should concentrate on an evacuation! This is a losing battle!" he shouted. He knew he was being ignored though. The moment Biggs was healed he was on his feet and back to firing at the Shinra soldiers on the stairs. There was a spark in their eyes. They'd die to do this. They'd happily die here trying to stop Shinra doing the unspeakable.

Cloud looked to Aerith and shook his head. He'd stay here too then. If there was a way to stop this, he was sure he'd be more use than Barret or Wedge would be. He put his hand on Aerith's shoulder.

"Go and evacuate everyone. Get Marlene. Get everyone out. Scream from the rooftops what Shinra is doing here... and for God's sake don't get shot," he said. Aerith looked at him from beneath her bangs with terrified green eyes that looked like they'd seen a ghost. She nodded, thin lipped.

"Cloud... you better not die. It would be like... like losing _him_ again," she said. Cloud didn't need to ask who. He leaned forward, kissing her on the cheek like he would a sister. She looked so scared and vulnerable, he didn't know what else to do.

"Be safe, Aerith," he said before pulling away and drawing his sword, walking a few steps away. He glanced back. "No go. Get everyone out of here. I'm heading up top. I've got a Turk to take on."

* * *

Rufus looked up from the email with a sick feeling in his gut. It was a simple enough order. Return to Midgar, deal with some press issues... Nothing he wasn't up to. But the reason... the _reason_...

His father was destroying Sector 7 as he sat there, drinking Herta's special 'Nibel Martini' and watching two middle-aged women argue about what a character should do in a soap opera. His fingers twitched on the keys, wondering if he should tell the old man to go fuck himself.

He read through the report he was meant to put out. Blame it on AVALANCHE. The usual bullshit of blaming others for Shinra's discretions. Rufus' fingers paused on the down key. Who _was_ dropping the Plate?

It could only be...

Rufus picked up the phone from his side. He hit the speed dial. A few moments later the line went dead. Tseng had hung up on him without answering. Rufus felt a chill go through his entire body. He used the next speed dial he had.

The line connected.

"Yo Tseng! This isn't a good time! I've got some bitch with a fucking gun-arm here who thinks he's hot stuff!" Reno's voice filtered down the line, with the sound of gunfire. Reno was breathing heavily and Rufus could make out the sound of the Turk's activated baton, the thin whine of electricity.

"This is not Tseng," Rufus said. He heard Reno's breath hitch on the other side.

"Sorry Boss. It's still not a good time," he said. Rufus thought of the last time he'd spoken to Reno.

"_We'll look after you, love... Don' worry, yo."_

"I order you to stop this mission," he said, trying to put as much emphasis in his voice as he could. Herta was looking at him from across the room now.

"I would, Boss, but it's... Listen, you know if I die here? Will you come to my funeral, yo? I'm going to have 'Here lies Reno: Died young with some guy's gun up his arse'," he replied. Rufus guessed that Reno was trying to skirt around the issue of disobeying orders from the President.

"Reno. I order you to withdraw from Sector 7 immediately. You will _not_ drop that Plate," he said. Reno couldn't be afforded wriggle room.

"I wish I could follow that order Boss, but it's kind of like an orgasm up here, yo. We're past the point of no return. We ain't gonna be walking past AVALANCHE any time soon, even in retreat. Best to go with a big climax..." Reno trailed off and Reno heard a clang and a cut off scream.

"I can't believe you're comparing the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent people to sex," Rufus said disdainfully. He heard Reno's sharp bark of laughter from the other end of the line.

"No... I think this was the straw that broke the chocobo's back. I think I'm insane now, yo," he said. At that moment there was a scream and Rufus heard Reno's breath catch again.

"You're the Turk from the Church!" he heard someone shout. The voice sounded familiar.

"Shit. Talk to ya later Boss... You know, if I don't have a coffin specially made so that a six foot Buster Sword can stick out the top-" the line cut out.

Rufus felt the phone slip from his grasp. He got to his feet and started pacing. He'd failed... He'd failed to convince Reno to stop. What did that mean? It meant... It meant...

"Herta. Don't watch the news for a few days," he said. "It's... nothing pleasant will be on it."

* * *

Reno cursed as he felt the Buster Sword skim a blow against his ribs. Strife was shocking with that blade, but with the size of it even a glancing blow was damaging. He gripped his baton hard. This... this couldn't happen.

He didn't want to drop the Plate. He didn't want to kill a ton of innocents over a stupid political war. He didn't want... this wasn't... What happened to Turk's honour? What happened to fucking respect for them as people? Did the President really not care? Turning a Turk, someone who worked in the Slums, into a tool for genocide?

Cloud's eyes were blazing, blue mako and the old fighting spirit burning so fiercely in his eyes that Reno wondered if he'd gone half mad too. The whole word gone fucking _insane_. It sounded about right. It had started with Sephiroth and spiralled from there...

No that wasn't right. Sephiroth had been a product of the world gone insane. It had started with fucking _Hojo_.

"Cloud!" Reno groaned. More back-up. He saw Elfé and Tifa, both of them covered in shit from head to toe. They were battle-ready though and they fell into step behind Cloud. The ex-Turk didn't even acknowledge them. Reno backed up a few more paces, feeling the control console pressing against the back of his legs.

He dropped his hand, knowing that the button was there that would end all this. He saw them all watching him, their gaze focused on that hand that was so hesitant on the button.

"I'm just followin' orders. It's nothing personal," he said, the words tasting bitter in his mouth. Those words he'd said before. Words he'd said laced with betrayal.

"Nothin' personal! There are kids down there! Ol' people! What d'you mean nothin' personal?" Barret shouted. He had his gun arm raised but it had long since run out of bullets. Reno felt sweat run down the back of his neck.

"It'll be a new kill record for me I guess," he said. "But I guess it'll never be officially recorded..." he saw Elfé's eyes narrow. She was close to just throwing her sword at him, he could see it. They were all afraid to move though, afraid that any sudden movement would make Reno push the button.

He was waiting for them to kill him. Once the signal came it would be too late.

_Kill me... For fuck's sake kill me! You insane fuckers what are you waiting for? A fucking invitation? I facilitated all this! I helped all this fucking happen, yo! This whole mess is my fucking fault from Nibelheim to now! DO SOMETHING!_

The signal came.

Reno pushed the button.

* * *

Cloud sat in the playground with a shell-shocked expression. It wasn't as bad as the others though. Elfé and Tifa were trying to comfort Barret but they couldn't know whether or not she escaped or not.

And the Turks had Aerith. Cloud had seen her, bound and gagged in the helicopter behind Tseng. Reno had hopped on out of there, remorseless for the lives he'd extinguished. He'd thrown a cigarette butt from the open door and spat down, a final libation to Sector 7 before it was crushed.

"Who's alive?" Elfé asked, turning around. There was a handful of refugees sat around, some dry-eyed, staring at the rubble, some wailing as they tried to pull at the rubble to find survivors.

"We've got five," Tifa replied. She sat down beside Cloud, leaving Barret to stare at the wreckage. "Me, you, Cloud, Barret and Kunsel."

Cloud looked up at the ex-SOLDIER. He wasn't looking particularly concerned about events, but there was a downturn to his mouth as he watched the refugees. His hands were clenched in fists. Cloud guessed he was channelling anger rather than grief. He hadn't, admittedly, lost any relatives.

"It's enough. We need to get to Aerith's house," Elfé said firmly. Cloud looked up at her, frowning.

"Why?" he asked. Elfé looked at Barret.

"It's the only place where we might find Marlene alive... and... we need a place to think of a strategy to help Aerith," she said. Cloud was on his feet in an instant.

"You're still thinking of taking on Shinra? Have you been watching? They'll crush us! We don't have this kind of manpower to take them on!" he yelled, gesturing behind him to the destroyed Sector. "Do you have any idea what you're taking on?"

"I know what I'm doing," Elfé said quietly. "I don't care if it's a suicide mission. I have to rescue her. She's... important."

"I have an obligation to as well. I would not be forgiven if something happened to her," Kunsel said, walking to Elfé's side. Cloud grit his teeth. This was insane. This was worse than insane.

"I want to see an air-tight plan before we just wander into Shinra HQ," he said. Elfé smiled and her posture relaxed a little.

"That's what you're there for. Use the walk to Aerith's house to massage your least used muscle and come up with something viable," she said. Cloud glared at her, but already he was estimating how many floors Shinra HQ had. For some reason he seemed to know how many floors there were roughly... And the kinds of things they might need to break into there... and how they might get around inside.

"Barret... we're going to go find Marlene now," Tifa said, getting to her feet. She was still covered in sewage, dressed in clothes from Don Corneo's and now had a layer of white dust coating her. They all did. Barret turned to her dumbly, following her as she led the way out of the playground and towards Sector 5.

"We're counting on you kid," Kunsel said softly as he turned to follow too. Cloud just stared at him.

Since when was _he_ the leader?

The smoke crept up the staircase of Shinra HQ. Step after step. The darkness gathered in corners, wafted under doorways, tendrils seeking, seeking, seeking.

Finally it found what it was looking for. A familiar stench. It coiled, and wrapped, layer after layer, sinew after sinew.

It became solid.

It became a blur of silver and black against the dull grey office hallways.


End file.
